Indonesia to lodge complaint against EU

MELBOURNE (Antara): The secretary general of the association of Indonesian textile manufacturers (API) has said that Indonesia will lodge a complaint against the European Union which has imposed additional anti-dumping taxes on Indonesian unbleached cotton cloth.

Benny Soetrisno told Antara in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on Tuesday that these additional taxes range from 3.5 to 14.5 per cent, adding that the API was given only 10 days (between March 13 through 23) to submit new arguments against the European Union's decision.

A number of Indonesian companies had last November been subjected to the European Union's temporary anti-dumping regulation, while three others were made examples through surveys conducted by European Union public accountants.

The temporary anti-dumping regulation did not satisfy Indonesia, but was given only six months after the coming into effect of the temporary regulation to submit new arguments and after the expiry of the six months period the temporary regulation would become definite.

The API secretary general also questioned how far the Indonesian Antidumping Committee Team had implemented its task in anticipating the antidumping regulations abroad.

He therefore proposed the establishment of a committee which would specially deal with antidumping practices abroad so that businessmen could be protected against the various forms of antidumping obstacles.

Apart from Indonesia, the European Union has also imposed antidumping customs tariffs on the People's Republic of China, Egypt, India, Pakistan and Turkey.