The European Commission (EC) has started an investigation into hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) flat steel from China concerning a possible circumvention of anti-dumping measures, and will make such imports subject to registration.
The commission made the decision to start the investigation on its own initiative, it said in its Official Journal of the European Union on November 25.
In February 2018, the EC set
definitive anti-dumping duties of between 17.2% and 27.9% on imports of HDG originating from China, but so-called 'automotive grades' were excluded from the measures.
The EC said that it has "sufficient evidence that the existing anti-dumping measures on imports of the product concerned originating in the People's Republic of China are being circumvented by slight modifications of the product concerned".
If the EC finds proof of circumvention, anti-dumping tariffs can be applied retroactively from the date of registration start.
It is scheduled to finalise the investigation within nine months of the date of entry into force of this regulation - by August...