China's Ministry of Commerce has announced that as of December 29, 2008, it has started an antidumping (AD) investigation against certain iron or steel fasteners imported from the European Community, according to a statement released on the Ministry's official website.
Accordingly, the Ministry will examine evidence of dumping, injury and their links listed in a petition submitted by the Chinese Fasteners Industry Association and will check the impact of the investigated commodities on the domestic industry.
Products covered by the investigation include fasteners under the customs codes of 73181200, 73181400, 73181500, 73182100 and 73182200, excluding bolts used for fixing the rails or with a shank diameter of less than 6 mm, and also excluding nuts.
The antidumping investigation will last one year but may be extended to June 29, 2010 if necessary.
The European Union voted on December 3 to impose 63-87 percent AD duties on fastener imports from China. The duties, which were approved by 14 EU countries and rejected by 12 others with one abstention, will run for five years starting in 2009, once the decision is officially published.