14 March 2004	Sunday	22 Muharram 1425

ISLAMABAD, March 13: Pakistan has finally decided to challenge the levy of 13.1 per cent anti-dumping duty by EU on Pakistan's bedlinen in the dispute settlement body of WTO.

An official source told Dawn on Saturday that the decision was taken at a meeting headed by Commerce Minister, Humayun Akhtar Khan.

Earlier, the commerce minister had written a letter to the EU Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy for re-considering the levy of anti-dumping duty on Pakistan's bed-linen. However, the official said that so far no response had been received from the EU in this regard and, therefore, Pakistan has decided to take the legal route.

According to the official, Pakistan's permanent mission to WTO based at Geneva has been asked to prepare a case for challenging the EU decision at the dispute settlement body.

The official said there was a great demand of Pakistan's bedlinen in the EU markets due to its quality and competitiveness but he said the levy of anti-dumping duty on bedlinen would make the commodity to lose its competitive edge.