by Shuai Rong, Grandesso Federico
BRUSSELS, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- To protect some uncompetitive industries against imports from third countries, the EU enhanced its trade deference instrument (TDI) on Wednesday when the European Parliament finalized its legislative procedure by approving amendments to EU's new anti-dumping rules.
However, it won't tackle competitiveness issue of those industries at root.
The new rules continue to use "surrogate country approach" in a disguised way though this approach expired on Dec. 11, 2016 in accordance with the accession protocol signed when China joined the WTO in 2001.
The core of the new rules is using the "substantial market distortions," which is stated neither in the anti-dumping nor the anti-subsidy rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), as a replacement of the "surrogate country approach."
GO BEYOND LEGITIMATE SCOPE
"The problem with the EU TDI system is that it de facto goes beyond its legitimate scope," said Christian Verschueren, director-general of EuroCommerce, the EU's trade representative group for retail and wholesale.
He said as a matter of fact, certain sectors in the EU bitterly depend on anti-dumping as a sort of last resort, or as a life insurance in the stormy seas of the world market.
He believed competitiveness issue should be tackled at root rather than artificially protecting less competitive sectors from international competition. And the EU should have an interest in competitive raw material and steel prices.
"The ones suffering from steel duties in the first place are clearly the EU steel importers and wholesalers. It would be unfair to expect importers and consumers in the EU to pay the bill for possible shortcomings in other areas, be it at company or policy level," he said.
"Our economy in Europe is deeply woven into the net of globalization; affordable steel prices are in Europe's own interest," he added.
At the end of the day, however, the bill will be for the final consumer to pay, given that a number of more sophisticated non-food consumer goods rely on Chinese steel inputs, he noted.
Helmut Scholz, a member of the European parliament said that some EU member states don't want to invest in infrastructures leads to the lack of competitiveness of the EU steel industry.
"It's not logic for the EU to ask China to shut down their steel plants when they asked China to invest and produce more 12 years ago when the economic crisis started," he said
He believed that it's not realistic and not possible to judge which economic model China has implemented, "on the contrary, the EU should find a more general approach to work together with China in the WTO to create a higher standard," he said.
According to the amendments, the social and environmental impact of dumplings will be taken into account when deciding on anti-dumping measures, and the EU Commission is to monitor circumstances in exporting countries, said a press release of the Parliament.
"The inclusion of labor and environmental standards as a relevant element introduces a new element in anti-dumping law and practice that no other WTO member has ever incorporated or used," said Edwin Vermulst, partner of VVGB international law firm in Belgium.
"Protectionism is more an attempt to keep certain positions which we have been developed in the past against future competition from other countries, and we have to understand that it's not possible anymore," Scholz said.
"To enhance domestic producers' genuine competitiveness, the EU urgently needs to complete some homework internally," Verschueren said.
