China starts to impose temporary anti-dumping measures as from
Monday against imports of a chemical catechol made in the European
Union, the
Ministry of
Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) has announced.
Catechol, or pyrocatechol, is a kind of white, crystalline phenol,
now usually produced synthetically for use as an antiseptic, or a
photographic developer among other uses.
The MOFTEC broke the news following a preliminary judgment at the
conclusion of an anti-dumping investigation initiated on March1,
2002.
The investigation revealed the dumping of catechol that is listed
under "2907.2910" in the tariffs of China's General Administration
of Customs, and State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) proved
that imports caused substantial damage to industries in China,
according to the MOFTEC announcement.
The announcement noted that the importers should pay cash deposits
from Monday to the customs of the People's Republic of China in
accordance with the judgment.
Meanwhile, MOFTEC and the SETC are to make further investigations
on this case before the final judgment is reached. This is the
first case since China's entry into the World Trade Organization,
in which a preliminary judgment has been made on the basis of the
country's newly-approved anti-dumping regulations that went into
effect on January 1, 2002.
(Xinhua News
Agency November 4, 2002)