European Commission Launches Public Online Consultation on Possible Methodology Changes in Trade Defense Investigations Regarding China

On February 10, 2016, the European Commission (the “Commission”) launched a public online consultation to gather input from stakeholders on possible changes to the methodology for assessing dumping duties on goods originating from China. This consultation takes place in the context of the impending expiry on December 11, 2016, of certain provisions of China’s Accession Protocol to the WTO, which essentially allowed the EU and other WTO members to treat China as a non-market economy (“NME”) in anti-dumping investigations. The consultation follows a College orientation debate on the treatment of China in anti-dumping investigations, on January 13, 2016.

The Commission seeks input from all stakeholders on three policy options:

• Leaving EU legislation unchanged;
• Changing the current anti-dumping methodology (i.e. presumably changing China’s NME status) with no additional measures;
• Changing the current anti-dumping methodology as part of a package with additional measures.

The consultation period will run until April 20, 2016. A stakeholder conference will take place with the Commission in mid-March to further discuss the economic and social impacts of the potential changes.