The European Commission has a really thorny problem on its hands, and one that could lead to serious trade friction with the US as it tries to decide whether to impose anti-dumping duties on copiers assembled – with large Japanese content – by Ricoh Co at its plant in Irvine, California: the European Community anti dumping code gives as a product’s country of origin the one where it underwent its last major transformation, which would seem to leave the Ricoh copiers home free – but they are being sold at below what the Community regards as fair market value based on the prices charged back home in Japan.