Matten: Nuts, Threaded Rod Excluded from EU Tariffs

Jason Sandefur

The European Commission has issued a detailed proposal to EU member countries that recommends an antidumping tariff of 87.3% on a majority of exporting Chinese fastener factories, across all of the tariff codes cited in the antidumping complaint, writes Fastener & Fixing Europe editor Phil Matten.

A tariff level of 78% is proposed for around 90 factories that cooperated with the European investigators. A small number of companies were accorded individual treatment and specific tariff proposals have been made for them, primarily in the range of 63.1% to 82.6%.

“Products likely to be affected by the antidumping measures, which are normally imposed for a five year period, range from socket screws, hex cap screws through self tapping and other small screws, wood and drywall screws, to flat and spring washers,” Matten reports.

Nuts and threaded rod are not included.

Tariffs will not be applied immediately. The proposal must be considered by the EU Antidumping Committee, which is expected to meet either late November or early December. If approved, the tariffs could start in January.

“While it is not an absolute certainty that tariffs will be applied, it is, in practice, very rare that a majority of member states votes against the Commission”s recommendation in an antidumping case,” Matten notes. �2008 FastenerNews.com and Fastener & Fixing Europe