Slovakia’s Presidency of the EU Council has achieved an important breakthrough regarding the modernisation of the EU’s trade defence tools, with the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) agreeing on a common negotiating position of the EU-member states in this regard.
The proposal has stagnated in the Council for around two years, the TASR newswire reported.
It is an important success not only within the priorities of the Slovak presidency in the field of trade, but also within the priorities of the European Council, according to Economy Ministry’s spokesperson Maroš Stano.
“This is a significant breakthrough,” said Slovak Economy Minister Peter Žiga, as quoted by TASR. “Our trade defence tools haven’t changed for over 15 years, but the situation on the world markets has changed dramatically.”
Europe cannot be naive and it has to defend its interests, especially when it comes to dumping, Žiga added.
“This is a crucial step towards a solid solution that will help EU producers cope with unfair competition and practices,” the Slovak economy minister stressed, as quoted by TASR.
The draft regulation amends current anti-dumping and anti-subsidy regulations to better respond to unfair trade practices. It is aimed at protecting EU producers from damage caused by unfair competition and ensuring free and fair trade.
Among other things, the proposed regulation wants to increase transparency and predictability concerning the imposition of provisional anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures. This includes a period of four weeks after the information is made public in which provisional duties will not yet be applied. Moreover, it should enable investigations to be initiated without an official request from industry, when a threat of retaliation by third countries exists, TASR wrote.
This is the first major review of the EU’s trade defence tools since 1995. The draft proposal will be further negotiated in the European Parliament.
