The European Commission has imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese optical fibre imports ranging from 19.7% to 44% . Anti-dumping duty is an import duty charged in addition to normal customs duty which is levied against goods that are sold at less than their normal value – that being defined as the price for ‘like goods’ sold in the exporter’s home market.
The Commission initiated an anti-subsidy investigation in December 2020 into imports of optical fibre cables originating from China. The specific products investigated were single mode optical fibre cables, made up of one or more individually sheathed fibres, with protective casing. The investigation did not include cables in which all the optical fibres are individually fitted with operational connectors at one or both extremities or cables for submarine use.
The Commission announced that it considers that since the Chinese optical fibre cable industry is heavily subsidised, it has benefitted from an unfair advantage that has enabled it to undercut competitors and significantly increase exports into the EU. It therefore said it was imposing additional duty on certain products.
Commenting on the EC’s announcement, Philippe Vanhille, EVP Telecom Division at Prysmian Group said that fair competition must be ensured to guarantee sustainable availability of quality components in Europe. “We believe it is fundamental to maintain high quality standards in the optical fibre segment…Only by doing this will we be able to guarantee that the integrity of the network infrastructure is secured, stability is increased across all bands, and possibilities are opened up for system evolution.”