EU buries a plan to impose cotton duties

EU buries a plan to impose cotton duties

BRUSSELS (Reuter): The EU has buried a plan to impose anti- dumping duties on unbleached cotton imports from China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan, after France failed in a last-ditch effort to revive the package.

Duties due from the countries named, some of which have already been paid or guaranteed by bankers' draft, will be returned, Commission spokesman Peter Guilford told a Wednesday news conference.

"Provisional duties lapsed after yesterday's decision. Those who have already paid duties will be reimbursed," he said.

European Union foreign ministers discussed the duties proposal on the margins of a Tuesday meeting on EU treaty reforms in The Hague, but failed to muster the unanimity sought by France to impose a modified version of the original plan.

Tuesday's talks came after diplomatic toing and froing at the end of last week, which saw the proposal apparently rejected, accepted then once again rejected.

The five EU countries supporting the plan on Friday were Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal, while France and Luxembourg gave no reply.

The original measures would have hit Chinese-origin imports with 18.9 percent duties, those from Egypt with 13 percent, India 17.2 percent, Indonesia 14.5 percent, Pakistan 22.9 percent and Turkey 17.5 percent.

Total imports from the six in 1995 were worth 379 million European currency units ($436 million), one official said.

A spokesman for European Commission President Jacques Santer said on Wednesday that the EU executive would respond immediately to any renewed complaint by industry about alleged product dumping.