Several WTO members, including China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, on Thursday expressed their concerns about the revised anti-dumping legislation of the European Union, which entered into force in December, said a trade official in Geneva.
During an informal meeting of WTO’s Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices, the EU introduced and explained its revised legislation on protection against dumped and subsidized imports, which established a new methodology for dealing with dumping cases involving the so-called “significant distortions”, Xinhua reported.
In response, China said it had deep concerns about the EU’s new regulation, saying the “significant distortion” methodology for calculating normal value would damage the WTO’s anti-dumping legal system and increase uncertainty for exporters.
China urged the EU to respect its WTO obligations and apply a non-discriminatory approach to all members.
China said that when it joined the WTO in 2001, the other member countries agreed that after 15 years they would treat it as a market economy, taking its prices at face value.
But the United States and the EU have refused, saying China still subsidizes some industries, such as steel and aluminum, which have massive overcapacity and spew vast supplies onto the world market, making it impossible for others to compete.
China is suing both the United States and the EU at the WTO to try to force them to change their rules.
Russia said it continued to believe the EU amendments were in violation of WTO rules. It said the EU could still stop short of breaching its WTO obligations by never applying the amended normal value methodology.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia noted that the concept of “significant distortion” is a clear departure from the disciplines established under the WTO’s Anti-Dumping Agreement.
Bahrain, Argentina, Kazakhstan and Oman also expressed concerns on the EU’s new anti-dumping regulation.
