Japan, Taiwan ‘Dumping’ Phone Gear, U.S. Rules
WASHINGTON — The Commerce Department issued a final ruling Wednesday that Japan and Taiwan were “dumping†some telephone equipment on the U.S. market, paving the way for possible permanent import duties.
The department issued a preliminary dumping ruling July 27. It said small business telephone systems and some components were being sold at far less than fair value.
It began assessing temporary anti-dumping duties in July and those would be made permanent if the International Trade Commission, a U.S. agency, issues a final ruling that the dumping was injuring American firms that make similar equipment.
The ITC, an independent agency that monitors adherence to U.S. trade law, has 45 days to act.
It ruled provisionally last February that U.S. companies were in danger of being injured by the imports.
The ITC and the Commerce Department acted on a complaint by American Telephone & Telegraph Co. and Comdial Corp. of Charlottesville, Va.
South Korean firms were included in the complaint, but one of them requested an extention and as a matter of routine was granted a delay, to Dec. 18, a department official said.
The department said imports of the equipment in 1988 totaled $776 million from Japan, $342 million from Taiwan and $227 million from South Korea.
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