Leading European retailers today urged the EU to scrap punitive anti-dumping duties on energy-saving lightbulbs from China, claiming the tariffs cost consumers billions of euros a year.
The retailers, including Sir Terry Leahy of Tesco and Sören Hansen of Ikea, said the tariffs of up to 66% ensured that prices were "artificially inflated" when they reached the shops and this depressed demand for energy-saving bulbs.
The European retail round table claimed that if only one extra low-energy bulb was purchased per EU household this would save €2bn (£1.6bn) in electricity consumption - quite apart from reducing CO2 emissions.
The European commission has imposed duties on imports from China for the last six years and extended them for a year in late 2007. But many of the contentious imports are made by European firms in China.
Dutch group Philips, the world's biggest lighting company, is pressing for the duties to be lifted while Osram, owned by Germany's Siemens, has campaigned for them to be retained. But Osram recently gave up a legal challenge to the EC.
The duties are seen as in flagrant contradicition of EU ambitions to reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2020 - a cornerstone of its claim to be leading the global fight against climate change.
David Gow
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1 comment:
This is really good news if it means the cost of energy saving light bulbs is reduced. Each energy saving light bulb saves £9 per year on electricity bills, but people are put off from buying them if the costs are high.
Other measures, like installing double glazing, can save much more money for bill payers - but I think light bulbs is a great place to start!
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