A Chinese company which exports ironing boards to European Union
countries has filed a lawsuit against the EU over anti-dumping
tariffs.
Cheng Huazhen, general manager of the Huahe Hardware Company
based in east China's Zhejiang Province, said the EU imposed the
tariffs according to incorrect investigation results.
The lawsuit was filed to the EU court of first instance, and the
court has accepted the lawsuit, Li Shengjing, a lawyer representing
the firm said.
In February last year, the European Commission of the EU
launched an anti-dumping investigation into the company. The
commission denied market economy status of the company and imposed
a 25-percent anti-dumping tariff later in the year after finding
the company's finance system not conforming with international
accounting standards.
Cheng insisted their company was up to the standards and filed
plea to the commission. In February this year, the EU granted
market economy status to the company and cut the anti-dumping rate
to 3.1 percent.
But one month later, the commission revoked the company's
economic status in an amended document, and raised the anti-dumping
rate to 26.5 percent in April, Cheng said.
The lawyer representing the firm said the EU also cut short the
time for the company to launch a counterplea.
In January this year, five Chinese shoemakers from Zhejiang,
Taiwan and Hong Kong filed lawsuits against the European Union's
anti-dumping tariffs, claiming that the EU didn't routinely and
impartially review the companies before meting out the tariffs.
Industry analysts say the case the shoemakers launched could
last two to four years and cost up to 2 million yuan (about 255,750
US dollars).
Huahe Hardware Company was set up in 2004 in Kaihua County of
western Zhejiang. Its annual output value is about 50 million yuan
(about 6.5 million US dollars), most products are for export to the
EU.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2007)
