China scored a broad victory Friday at the World Trade Organization in its appeal against Brussels over EU anti-dumping measures imposed on imports of Chinese metal fasteners such as nuts and bolts.

According to a ruling issued by the WTO, an appellate body upheld a December 3, 2010 ruling that Brussels acted inconsistently in its anti-dumping calculations, which led the bloc to impose tariffs ranging from 26.5 percent to 85 percent on Chinese imports.

As China is regarded as a non-market economy by the European Union, Brussels applied a country-wide dumping margin and duty unless individual companies fulfilled certain conditions set by the EU.

The WTO ruled however that requiring such conditions is discriminatory and called on Brussels to "bring its measures … into conformity" with trade rules.

China welcomed the ruling, saying that the case is "of great significance."

"This is not only a victory for the Chinese industry but for the WTO rules as well. The ruling is reinforcing the confidence of WTO members (in) the multilateral trading system," the Chinese delegation to the WTO said in a statement.

Nevertheless, the EU won a small consolation, as the appellate body reversed an earlier ruling and found instead that Brussels did not violate trade rules by keeping confidential the identities of those who have initiated a dumping complaint against China.

China is the world's biggest producer of screws, nuts, bolts and washers, while the European Union is its biggest market.

EU-China trade has exploded in recent years, making the EU the top destination for Chinese exports while China is Europe's biggest trade partner after the United States.

earlier related report

China to review Nestle bid for local sweetmaker
Beijing (AFP) July 15, 2011 –

Beijing said Friday it will review a plan by Swiss food giant Nestle to buy a Chinese sweetmaker, in what could be one of the biggest foreign takeovers of a Chinese company.

Nestle said Monday it had agreed to buy a 60-percent stake in Singapore-listed Hsu Fu Chi for 1.4 billion francs ($1.7 billion) to boost the group's footprint in China.

Commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian told reporters on Friday the government had received an application from Nestle to acquire the sweetmaker.

"Our anti-monopoly bureau is checking whether the documents are complete … before carrying out the following procedures, including accepting the application," Yao told reporters.

China's anti-monopoly law requires firms to receive government approval before they can merge if their combined global revenue exceeds 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) or if their revenue in China tops two billion yuan.

Authorities also review deals if two or more of the firms have each reported more than 400 million yuan of revenue in China in the previous fiscal year.

In April, Chinese regulators gave US retail giant Wal-Mart the green light to buy the remaining stake of Chinese supermarket chain Trust-Mart, in which it already owned a share, according to Chinese media reports.

But Beijing has also blocked foreign takeover deals.

In 2009, it vetoed a $2.4 billion bid by Coca-Cola to take over beverage maker Huiyuan Juice Group, saying the deal would have led to higher prices and a smaller choice of products.

Hsu Fu Chi's net profit for the quarter ending March 31 reached 206.6 million yuan, with revenues at 1.5 billion yuan, according to its latest financial statement.

Euromonitor analysts noted that Nestle's stake in Hsu Fu Chi would make it the second largest confectionery player in China by retail sales.