In a 15 month investigation, the EU found that that the Chinese government was significantly subsidising its coated fine paper industry by giving cheap loans, allocating land below market value and granting various tax incentives which are illegal practices under WTO rules. After this first-ever anti-subsidy proceeding launched by the EU against China, the EU today imposes definite countervailing duties ranging from 4% to 12% on this high quality paper imported from China. The investigation also brought to light that Chinese producers of coated fine paper exported their products to the EU at dumped prices, hence the EU will impose anti-dumping duties ranging from 8% to 35.1%, depending on the producer.
“This is the first time ever we put in place measures against the strategic and targeted subsidisation of a specific industry by the Chinese government. All these subsidies are not in line with the obligations China has signed up to when joining in 2001 the World Trade Organisation. Today’s measures will restore effective and fair trade conditions on the EU market”, said John Clancy, EU Trade Spokesman.
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