EU decides not to pursue 'trade defense probe' into Chinese telecom equipment

The European Commission on Monday took the official decision that it no longer considers it necessary to pursue the "trade defense investigation" into Chinese telecommunications equipment.

According to a Commission statement, "intensive discussions between the Commission and the Chinese government were concluded by an amicable settlement" on the issue.

Settlements were scored in talks on Saturday at the European Union (EU)-China Joint Committee, chaired by EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng.

In procedural terms, the investigation concerns the decision in principle made in May 2013 of opening an ex officio anti-dumping and an anti-subsidy investigation concerning imports of mobile telecommunications networks and their essential elements from China.

An ex officio trade defense action allows the European Commission to launch a trade defense investigation on its own initiative without an official complaint by the EU industry.

The Commission's latest decision on dropping the anti-subsidy probe came after in March this year the Commission repealed the part relating to the anti-dumping investigation.

"Together, these two decisions mean that the investigation into mobile telecommunications networks from China will not be pursued," said the Commission statement.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said: "I am pleased that the EU and China have resolved the telecoms case. The concerns that have led us to launch the case last May can now be addressed in a systematic and regular dialogue between the two sides for the benefit of our industry."

China exports telecommunication network equipment to the EU market with a value of approximately just over 1 billion euros (about 1.28 billion U.S. dollars) per year.