From November 19, 2021, the anti-dumping duties between 19.7% and 44% imposed by the EU on optical fiber cables imported from China come into force.
Among the Chinese companies affected by this measure are the companies of the ZTT group, including Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology Co which was imposed a duty of 19.7% and the companies of the FTT group such as FiberHome Telecommunication Technologies Co Ltd which was imposed a duty at 44%.
The European decision was taken following an investigation launched by the European Commission at the request of the association of European telecommunications cable manufacturers Europacable, which includes the Italian Prysmian and the French Nexans. Deutsche Telekom of Germany and Comercial Electro-Industrial of Spain opposed this measure.
The european investigation had shown that imports of optical fiber cables from China had increased by + 150% between 2016 and 2019, occupying approximately 15% of the European market.
The decision was motivated by the need to remedy the market distortions caused by Chinese imports of optical fiber cables at prices below the cost of production due to subsidies from the Chinese government. According to the European authority, these subsidies have allowed the Chinese exporting companies to benefit from an unfair competitive advantage that the anti-dumping duties aim to rebalance.
The European Commission has specified that the anti-dumping duties will have an impact on costs for companies that purchase cables from China, but that these costs represent less than 5% of the total costs of 5G infrastructures and a minority of those of telecommunications networks.
Avv. Lifang Dong and Avv. Chiara Civitelli
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