unreasonable ruling opinions, and reserved rights under the WTO legal
framework.^29
Third, the EU’s trade defense against China was not limited to anti-dumping;
instead the EU often carried out both anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations
to intensify its trade defense. The EU launched investigations both in the solar panel
case and in the organic coated steel case in 2012.
Fourth, the European Commission Directorate-General for Trade took the ini-
tiative to initiate investigations. Officials of the European Commission
Directorate-General for Trade believed that some companies had refrained from
activelyfiling anti-subsidy applications for fear that their businesses in China would
be affected, therefore, the European Commission should directly launch
anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations in light of injuries caused to the
EU’s industries by relevant products. Currently, the European Commission
Directorate-General for Trade is focusing attention on wireless network products
from Huawei and ZTE.
Fifth, emphasis was placed on reciprocal opening and particular attention was
paid to the area of public procurement. In 2011, the European Commission drafted
and updated a proposal for a public procurement directive; the Committee on
International Trade of the European Parliament discussed this proposal four times,
developed itsfinal opinions on November 7, 2012,^30 and submitted the proposal to
the parliaments of its member states for adoption. A new public procurement
directive highlights a reciprocal opening principle under which the EU closes the
Table 3.3 Number of cases involving anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations newly
launched by the EU in the years 2008– 2012
Products 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Chemical products 0 9 7 11 –
Textiles – 3 –––
Timber and papermaking –– 2 ––
Electronic products – 12 – 2
Other mechanical engineering products 1 1 1 1 1
Steel products 11 4 3 6 11
Other metal products 5 1 – 1 –
Other products 3 2 3 2 5
Total 20 21 18 21 19
Unitpiece
SourceStatistical data of the European Commission concerning anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and
special safeguard measures in 2012
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2012/december/tradoc_150133.pdf
(^29) Regular news conference at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce ( 2013 , January).
(^30) Committee on International Trade, the European Parliament, 2011/0437 (COD), 7.11.2012.
3 China-EU Economic and Trade Relations 85