15 January 2004	Thursday	22 Ziqa'ad 1424

ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: The European Commission (EC) is likely to finalize the proposed 14.1 per cent anti-dumping duty on Pakistan's bed linen on Thursday.

An official source in the commerce ministry told Dawn on Wednesday that the anti-dumping committee of EC at Brussels would take the decision by majority vote.

A delegation of officials and exporters of bed-Lenin led by secretary commerce, Kamal Afsar has already left for UK to lobby and negotiate the issue with the EU member countries.

The EU levied anti-dumping duty on Pakistan's bedlinen in 1997, which was withdrawn in January 2002 as the investigation conducted into the matter did not determine the dumping element in Pakistan's exports of bedlinen to the EU.

In December 2002, the EU again started investigation but the investigation team did not complete the process and left the country half way through without completing its job.

Pakistan's total share in bedlinen import of the EU stood at 50,000 tons out of a total import of 200,000 per annum. From January-November 2003, Pakistan exported bedlinen to the EU worth $312 million, showing an increase of 27 per cent over the same period of last year.

AFP adds from Brussels: The European Union agreed on Wednesday to slap anti-dumping duties on imports of cotton bedlinen from India in the latest trade row with the Asian country.

A majority of EU member states agreed to the move following a ruling by the World Trade Organization in April last year that the bloc was justified in imposing anti-subsidy duties on Indian bedlinen imports.

The EU's anti-dumping measures against Indian bedlinen had been suspended in August 2001 in light of a previous WTO ruling that said they did not comply fully with the Geneva-based organization's rules.

The decision to resume the duties risks inflaming strained trade ties between the EU and India, which have locked horns at the WTO over a number of other issues