The European Union has launched a public consultation that will help it decide whether to grant China market economy status before the expiration of rules in December. (Photo : REUTERS)
The European Union (EU) has launched on Wednesday, Feb. 10, a public consultation to seek inputs for its in-depth assessment of China’s status-changing and decide on whether to grant China the market economy status (MES) on the bloc's economy, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The European Commission, the EU's executive body, said in a statement that the online consultation is open for 10 weeks, which will tackle the methods used in the EU's "anti-dumping" procedures on imported Chinese products, since the current measures are set to expire in December.
According to the report, the commission was currently conducting a "comprehensive" assessment on the economic effects of changing the treatment of China as a market economy in its "anti-dumping investigations."
Based on the rules of the World Trade Organization, EU's current adopted rules to calculate dumping margins on Chinese products (which does not consider China as a market economy in anti-dumping proceedings) will expire on Dec. 11.
The report said that the commission is set to offer a proposal to the European Council and the European Parliament on whether to grant China MES before the deadline.
As the EU has not regarded China as a market economy, China has been suffering from some unfair and discriminatory EU practice, the report added.
Under the current EU anti-dumping investigations against China, the assessment is based on a comparison of the export price in a "surrogate country" with MES, instead of the domestic price of the product in question.
China's status as a market economy has been recognized by more than 80 economies, which include Russia, New Zealand, Singapore and Australia.
In January, the WTO ruled in favor of Chinese fastener makers, which gave China a major victory in its seven-year dispute with the EU.
The WTO said in its ruling that the EU decision to impose heavy tariffs on fastener imports from China is illegal.
