EU May Renew Taxes on Stainless-Steel Screws From China, Taiwan

The European Union may renew tariffs as high as 27.4 percent on stainless-steel screws and bolts from China and Taiwan to curb competition for EU manufacturers.

The EU began a review of whether to reimpose the import duties on stainless-steel fasteners for five years while letting similar levies against Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam expire.

The bloc imposed the taxes in 2005 to punish exporters in the five countries for selling the fasteners in Europe below cost, a practice known as dumping. At the time, the EU cited a threat to Italian and German producers including Bontempi Vibo SpA, Bulnava Srl and Reisser Schraubentechnik GmbH.

The review will determine whether the expiry of the duties against China and Taiwan "would be likely, or unlikely, to lead to a continuation of dumping and continuation or recurrence of injury," the European Commission, the 27-nation EU’s trade authority in Brussels, said today in the Official Journal. The measures were due to lapse tomorrow along with the levies against Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam and will now stay in place during the probe, which may last as long as 15 months.

The anti-dumping duty rates set in 2005 were 7.7 percent for Vietnam, as high as 14.6 percent for Thailand, up to 23.6 percent for Taiwan, as high as 24.6 percent for Indonesia and up to 27.4 percent for China, depending on the company.

In 2009, the EU imposed separate anti-dumping duties as high as 85 percent on iron or steel fasteners from China. That case, which excludes fasteners made of stainless steel, prompted the Chinese government later that year to file its first complaint against the EU at the World Trade Organization.