EU Requests WTO Panel Against China's Export Restrictions On Tungsten

Details: Category: Tungsten's News; Published on Monday, 15 July 2013 16:07

The European Union requested the establishment of a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning China's export restrictions on rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum. This follows EU efforts to find a solution with China, including through formal WTO consultations that were held in April. The EU, together with its partners in the case - the United States and Japan, will therefore proceed to the next step in WTO litigation in order to seek compliance by China with its international obligations.

"China's restrictions on tungsten and other products are a violation of China's WTO commitments and continue to significantly distort global markets, creating a disadvantage for our companies" said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. "Despite the very clear ruling earlier this year of the WTO in the first raw materials case, Beijing has not taken steps to remove these export restrictions. We regret that we are left with no other choice but to solve this through litigation."

On 13 March this year EU, US and Japan requested consultations with China on their export restrictions of various raw materials including rare earths. Despite these formal consultations which took place in Geneva and the WTO ruling on similar measures, there have been no signals from China that it would remove the restrictions.

China imposes a set of export restrictions, including export duties, export quotas and additional requirements that limit access to raw materials for companies outside China. These measures significantly distort the market and favour Chinese industry at the expense of companies and consumers in the EU and globally.

The EU considers that these restrictions are in violation of general WTO rules and also of China's specific commitments on export duties that China undertook when acceding to the WTO. Earlier this year, the WTO confirmed the EU's claim that China's export restrictions on a different set of raw materials were incompatible with WTO rules.

The EU appreciates the environmental challenges linked to the mining of raw materials and encourages all countries to promote an environmentally friendly and sustainable policy for raw materials. However, the EU believes that export restrictions do not contribute to this aim; there are more effective environmental protection measures that do not discriminate against foreign industries.

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