EC chief defends antidumping action against RI products
EC chief defends antidumping action against RI products
JAKARTA (JP): European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy defended
on Friday the antidumping measures imposed on some Indonesian
products, saying they were made in congruence with World Trade
Organization (WTO) rules.
Lamy said the European Commission (EC) was not targeting
Indonesia because the initiative to proceed with antidumping
investigations was never made by the commission, but by the
respective industries in the European Union (EU) member states.
He also denied criticism from some local industries that the
antidumping measures on Indonesia's products was against the EU's
commitment to helping lift Indonesia out of its worst ever
crisis.
"We're not the most active antidumping gathering ... But, the
fact is there was a large dumping margin found on some of
Indonesia's products," he told a news conference.
He said the antidumping investigations were conducted in a
transparent manner in accordance with legislation set by the WTO.
"I'm bound by the legislation," he said.
Lamy's spokesperson, Anthony Gooch, added that Indonesia had
the right to respond against the antidumping sanctions.
He said any companies or countries unsatisfied with such
measures imposed by other countries were allowed to bring their
case to the WTO.
The Indonesian Synthetic Fiber Makers Association, whose
members were charged by the commission with antidumping duties of
between 8.4 percent and 15.8 percent earlier this month, plans to
file suit to WTO against the commission over the sanction.
The association said the sanction, which it called baseless,
would cause local producers a potential loss of about US$60
million during the first year of imposition of the duties alone.
The commission has imposed antidumping duties on at least
seven Indonesia's imports to EU member states markets so far.
Indonesia's bicycles and polyester fibers were imposed with
antidumping duties since 1996, polyolefin woven bags and footwear
made of textile in 1997, footwear made of leather in 1998,
microdisks in 1999 and recently this month the synthetic staple
fibers of polyester.
According to Gooch, the commission was currently finalizing
another antidumping investigation on Indonesia's polyethylene
terephthalate.
He said the decision on the antidumping or countervailing
measures on the products was expected to be reached in August.
Lamy said in order to avoid similar trade barriers in the
future, Indonesia's exporters must comply to the requirements and
legislations set by EU member states.
He said that at present many Indonesian exporters were not
aware or even ignored the import requirements, especially those
regarding the health, sanitary and environment aspects of the
products and production processes.
Lamy is in Jakarta as part of a series of official trips to
key developing countries to lobby for a new attempt to launch a
round of trade talks after the failure of the Seattle WTO
conference last December.
The Seattle conference broke down amid disagreement and
recrimination between industrialized and developing countries
over issues like agriculture and labor standards, the environment
and investment.
Lamy said the commission expected Indonesia to support its
plan for the new round.
He said that as a developing country, Indonesia would benefit
from the round by using it to patch up differences on trade
matters with industrialized countries and negotiate to make the
latter eliminate as many trade barriers as possible.
Lamy is scheduled to leave for Singapore to meet Prime
Minister Goh Chok Tong and other ministers, hoping to persuade
Singapore to use its influence to encourage other Southeast Asian
countries to back the new round plan. (cst)