China hopes the European Union can revoke the decision and ruling that violate the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and hurt bilateral trade, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a statement on its website Monday.

The statement came after the WTO established an expert panel on October 23 to investigate whether the EU's anti-dumping measures on Chinese-made fasteners violate trade rules.

The expert panel, once set up, needs at least half a year to issue a final ruling on the dispute.

China initiated the WTO case on July 31, saying anti-dumping measures taken by the EU against the import of Chinese steel fasteners violate WTO trade rules.

At the beginning of this year, the EU decided to impose anti-dumping duties of up to 87 percent on fasteners imported from China for the next five years.

EU's move had seriously violated WTO rules and China's lawful rights and interests, and both the Chinese government and enterprises have expressed grave dissatisfaction over this, the MOC statement said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2009)