European Commission Launches Public Online Consultation on Possible Methodology Changes in Trade Defense Investigation Regarding China

On February 10, 2016, the European Commission (the “Commission”) launched
a public online consultation to gather input from stakeholders on possible changes to
the methodology for assessing dumping duties on goods originating from China. 1 This
consultation takes place in the context of the impending expiry on December 11, 2016,
of certain provisions of China’s Accession Protocol to the WTO, which essentially
allowed the EU and other WTO members to treat China as a non-market economy
(“NME”) in anti-dumping investigations. The consultation follows a College orientation
debate on the treatment of China in anti-dumping investigations, on January 13, 2016.2