The European Commission gave notice Jan. 21 of the impending expiry of the antidumping duties on certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel from Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine, unless a review of the duties is initiated. EU manufacturers can submit a written request for a review up until three months before the Oct. 7 expiration date.

The European Union initiated an expiry review of the antidumping duties on imports of certain aluminum road wheels from China following a request from the Association of European Wheel Manufacturers, the European Commission said in a Jan. 20 regulation. The review will cover "aluminium road wheels of the motor vehicles of headings 8701 to 8705, whether or not with their accessories and whether or not fitted with tyres" brought into the EU from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. Interested parties wishing to submit comment on the review must do so within 37 days of the publication of the notice of initiation of the review, the commission said.

China asked the World Trade Organization to set up a dispute panel to look at Australia’s antidumping measures on Chinese wind towers, stainless steel sinks and certain railway wheels, as well as Australian countervailing duties on Chinese stainless steel sinks, the WTO said Jan. 14. Australia’s trade minister said Jan. 15 that he’s “confident our measures are consistent” with WTO obligations and plans to “robustly defend them.”

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.