By Lewis Crofts - 8th March 2004
Trade commissioner Pascal Lamy has trimmed the EU’s anti-dumping procedures to make it easier to defend European industries against cheap imports.
National governments agreed on Monday to push anti-dumping cases through the system quicker by adopting new voting rules as well as curtailing the time taken for investigations – changes Lamy hopes will force the likes of India, China and the US “to put their own houses in order”.
The voting changes are designed to discourage countries from hiding behind an abstention vote, instead requiring a simple majority of governments to actively block a Brussels proposal in order to halt anti-dumping measures.
“Abstention is a convenient way out when you are subject to pressures from various distributors,” said Lamy.
“We are creating more democracy in the system,” he added.
The Frenchman went on to stress that Europe was a “moderate user” of anti-dumping measures in comparison with the US whose practises he called “obsolete”.
“The solution is not to reduce the quality and standards of our system but to increase the quality and standards of the American delegation,” said Lamy.
Lamy denied that there would automatically be more anti-dumping cases as of May 1 when the EU’s trade policy replaces national measures in the ten new member states, since they are already “in line” with the rest of the union.
“This will not change the number either proportionally or sector-wise.”
“We’re not totally overhauling the system; we’re just cleaning up the present one.”
Last year the EU initiated 20 investigations into foreign imports undercutting domestic producers, while it maintained defence measures on 174 counts.
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