Canada initiates anti-dumping probe on Vietnam bikes

HO CHI MIN CITY, Vietnam (Jan 24) - Following the steps of the European Commission, Canada has recently launched an anti-dumping investigation into bicycle exports from Vietnam and five other countries and territories into Canada. Fourteen Vietnamese bicycle makers, most of them foreign-invested, along with other bicycle makers from China, Taiwan, the U.S., Thailand and the Philippines, will be the focus of the investigation, which was raised after dumping accusations by the Canadian Bicycle Manufacturers Association. As recently ruled by the Canadian International Trade Court, Canada will send inquiries to concerned parties who will have to send back their replies 20 days later. The probe aims to prove whether certain categories of bicycles imported from these countries to Canada have seriously damaged or threatened to damage the Canadian bicycle industry. The Canadian court is expected to give the final ruling in August. Based on the conclusion, Canada will then consider any appropriate protective measures. In June 2004, the European Commission initiated a similar anti-dumping investigation on bicycle exports from Vietnam into the European Union. The Vietnamese Ministry of Trade has since denied all claims that the country is selling bicycles to these markets at dumping prices. (Source: VTV)