KARACHI, Aug 19: The European Commission has taken a strong exception of the news reports regarding the specific date of final decision on anti-dumping duty on imports of Pakistani bedlinen.

In a protest note sent to Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association (PBEA) Chairman Shabir Ahmed from Brussels by the commission’s director general commerce, the EC has pointed out that no date has been decided as investigations were inconclusive.

The message said that the commission had not made any announcement as internal investigations were still in progress. The commission was critical of the elements involved in giving incorrect information to media regarding the European Commission decision.

Shabir Ahmed in his response to the commission’s protest made an appeal to the media to desist from publishing reports based on anonymous sources.

He said sometimes such news items were planted by certain quarters to pursue their own interests, damaging the interests of trade and industry and tarnishing the image of the country.

The PBEA chief said: “In the past such incident cost us dearly.” Giving details, he said that earlier in March, the EC had agreed to send a review mission to probe the issue after a great persuasion by Commerce Minister Humayun Akther Khan. However, for some security reasons it did not want to publicize the date of arrival of the EC team. Unfortunately, officials in Islamabad leaked the dates to the press. The commission then, under protest, cancelled the visit altogether.

Later, the EU investigation team invited all sample companies to Dubai in May 2005 to review the accounts to determine the dumping margin.