The European Union imposed a definitive countervailing duty on imports of optical fiber cables from China, the European Commission said in a Jan. 19 regulation. Following a complaint from Europacable, the commission initiated the investigation and found that the imports of fiber optic cables from China were harming the EU industry. The duties will apply to "single mode optical fibre cables, made up of one or more individually sheathed fibres, with protective casing, whether or not containing electric conductors." The following rates apply: 10.3% CVD rate for FTT Group, consisting of FiberHome Telecommunication Technologies Co., Ltd., Nanjing Wasin Fujikura Optical Communication Ltd. and Hubei Fiberhome Boxin Electronic Co., Ltd.; 5.1% for ZTT Group, made up of Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology Co., Ltd. and Zhongtian Power Optical Cable Co., Ltd.; 7.8% for other companies cooperating in both anti-subsidy and antidumping investigations listed in Annex I; 10.3% for other companies cooperating in the antidumping investigation but not in the anti-subsidy investigation listed in Annex II; and 10.3% for all other companies.

The European Commission gave notice Jan. 18 of its decision to conduct an expiry review of the antidumping duties on sodium gluconate from China, following a request from French company Jungbunzlauer SA. European Union manufacturers can submit written comments over elements of the investigation within 37 days of the notice's publication. The review period runs Jan. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2021.

The European Union extended the antidumping duties on grain-oriented flat rolled products of silicon-electrical steel (GOES) from China, Russia, the U.S., Japan and South Korea for another five years, the European Commission said. The decision to extend the duties came after the commission conducted an expiry review and found that a lapse in the duties would amount to serious harm to EU GOES producers. The AD measures will continue to be implemented as a minimum import price, above which imports will be allowed to enter the EU without any antidumping duties. If the import prices are below this level, the commission will set the AD rates at the difference between the import price and the minimum import price, up to a maxim range of 21.5% to 39%. "The measures will thus continue to ensure a level playing field for EU GOES producers while providing stable supply on the import side of high quality GOES, needed in particular for the production of premium quality transformers, generators and motors," the commission said.

Canada and Argentina recently took antidumping and countervailing duty actions on products from China, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Jan. 13. Canada renewed its AD/CVD orders on certain carbon and alloy steel line pipe, welded or seamless, from China, HKTDC said. Canada also is seeking comments by Jan. 13 about whether it should initiate an expiry review of the AD/CVD orders on mainland Chinese “oil country tubular goods pup joints.” Argentina determined that imports of certain ceramic tableware produced and exported by Indonesia's PT Indo Porcelain and imported by Argentina’s Cencosud S.A. are not circumventing the antidumping duty order on that merchandise from China, HKTDC said.

The European Commission gave notice Jan. 13 of the impending expiry of the antidumping duties on barium carbonate from China, unless a review of the duties is initiated. European Union manufacturers can submit a written request for a review up to three months before the Sept. 29 expiration date.

The U.K. Department for International Trade updated the commodity codes for which antidumping and ccountervailing duties are applicable under the AD/CVD orders on glass fiber products from China. Also updated were the commodity codes for countervailing duties on glass fiber products from Egypt. It also updated the commodity codes for the tariff-rate quotas on steel products.

The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body agreed to set up two new dispute panels to examine Russian measures disrupting EU access to procurement by state-related entities and the Dominican Republic's antidumping duties on corrugated steel bars from Costa Rica, the WTO said. The panels were agreed to at the Dec. 20 meeting of the DSB. The EU requested the panel over Russia's procurement measures, while Costa Rica requested the panel over the Dominican Republic's antidumping duties. The EU's panel request was the second attempt after Russia blocked its first request in November. While stating its regrets that the EU decided to further pursue the establishment of a panel, Russia said that it is confident its measures fully comply with the WTO's regulations. The same is true of Costa Rica's panel request, as its first bid was thwarted by the Dominican Republic.

The European Union imposed countervailing duties on aluminum converter foil from China, with duties of 8.6% to 18.2%, the European Commission said in a Dec. 22 notice. The duties specifically cover "aluminium converter foil of a thickness of less than 0,021 mm, not backed, not further worked than rolled, in rolls of a weight exceeding 10 kg" and cover July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2020. Four products are excluded, and they include "Aluminium household foil of a thickness of not less than 0,008 mm and not more than 0,018 mm, not backed, not further worked than rolled, in rolls of a width not exceeding 650 mm and of a weight exceeding 10 kg."

The U.S. will not appeal a recent World Trade Organization dispute settlement body ruling which found that its countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain violated WTO rules, the U.S. said at the Dec. 20 meeting of the DSB. A panel at the DSB found that the U.S. erred when finding that subsidies given to Spanish raw olive growers under the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy were specific to the olive growers, a finding that was inconsistent with measures in the WTO's Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (see 2111190028). The U.S., in its comments to the body, said that it will permit the report to be adopted despite expressing being "disappointed" with a few of the panel's findings.

The European Union is reopening an antidumping review into tartaric acid from China to comply with the European Court of Justice's Dec. 3 ruling, the European Commission said. The ruling concerned the commission's determination to find the normal value of tartaric acid in the review based on costs of production in Argentina, whereas in the initial investigation, the commission found normal value based on Argentinian domestic sales prices. The result was an increase in the antidumping duty for two exporting producers, Changmao Biochemical Engineering Co. and Ninghai Organic Chemical Factory, who saw their rates jump from 10.1% to 13.1% and 4.7% to 8.3%, respectively.