Japanese printer manufacturers Star Micronics and NEC Corp, presently using their UK plants to penetrate the European market, have agreed to increase the number of European components in their machines, so avoiding the European Community anti-dumping taxes recently imposed on them: last week, a sitting of the European Commission found that fewer than 40% of the components came from European firms, and as such the printers came under the same tax ruling as direct imports from Japan – around $15 dollars a printer for Star and $33 for NEC; accordingly, both firms have undertaken to include more European components, and if this is accepted at the Commission’s next sitting, the taxes will be duly annulled.
