EU Sees Progress By China On Market Economy Status

BRUSSELS (AFP)--China has made "considerable progress" on the road to winning market economy status, the European Commission has concluded in an internal report obtained by AFP Thursday.

"China now has in place almost all the legislation which is necessary for granting of market economy status. That is a considerable achievement," the report said.

Acknowledging China's "considerable progress" towards fulfilling the criteria necessary for winning the status, the commission said that it "remains strongly committed to working with China to achieve that."

Beijing asked the European Union in 2003 to grant it market economy status, which is used when calculating tariff barriers in antidumping cases.

Specifically, the status is key in determining to what extent the costs of exports from China reflect the unfair influence of state intervention.

As a result, the status is particularly important for China because it has been the target of numerous E.U. antidumping actions in recent years as the Asian giant becomes a major trading power.

So far, the E.U. has found that China has only fulfilled one of the five criteria it deems necessary for being granted market economy status.

However, the commission found in the report that "China has made considerable progress on the remaining four" criteria.

E.U. Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is to head to China next week to present the report during high-level talks.