Print

Mail

wiki links

Busines Briefs

■ EU tariffs contested
Taiwan's biggest bicycle maker,Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械), filed a lawsuit contesting EU tariffs on bicycles from Vietnam and China. Subsidiary Giant China Co, located in an industrial park in Kunshan, a city near Shanghai, wants Europe's second-highest court to overturn five-year "anti-dumping" duties of as much as 34.5 percent against Vietnam and levies of 48.5 percent against China. The 25-nation EU imposed the duties July 12 to counter a declining market share for European bike producers, seeking to protect EU producers including Accell Group NV from less-expensive imports. Vietnam's share of the EU bicycle market grew to nearly 9 percent last year from about 2 percent in 2000, while China's share expanded to 4 percent from less than 1 percent, according to the bloc. The average price for a bicycle in Europe fell 7 percent to 115 euros a unit in 2003 compared with 2000, according to the EU, which said the market share of European producers fell to 51 percent last year from 67 percent four years earlier.

■ Draft bill passes first hurdle
The Finance Committee at the Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the first reading of the amendments to the Securities and Exchange Law (證券交易法), explicitly banning insiders from buying shares within 12 hours after announcing significant information that can influence share prices. The range of insiders, meanwhile, is extended to include individual representatives of governmental or corporate board directors or superintendents, and board directors, superintendents, and managers who leave their posts within six months of the announcement, according to the amended Article 157-1. However, the high-profile drafted amendments on the mandatory appointment of independent board directors for the sake of improving corporate governance failed to win approval, due to lawmakers' mixed views on whether to expand the required seats to over a quarter of total board seats from the proposed minimum two seats. The amended regulation about proxy solicitation was also put on hold, as some of legislators suggested to revive the stricter criminal sanctions against the offenders, instead of merely small-amounted fines between NT$120,000 and NT$2.4 million, citing attempts to prevent moneyed conglomerates from exploiting illegal proxy solicitation to dogfight for management power.

■ AU Optronics' share may rise
AU Optronics Corp's (友達光電) global market share in TV screens that are 32 inches diagonally may reach 21 percent in the fourth quarter, the Commercial Times reported, citing David Su (蘇峰正), the company's flat-panel division chief. Monthly shipments of TV screens that are 32 inches diagonally in the fourth quarter is expected to increase to about 180,000 pieces, from 160,000 pieces in the third quarter, it said. AU Optronics' global market share in 32-inch LCD TV screens was 13 percent in the second quarter, the report said. AU Optronics, the world's third-largest maker of flat-panel displays used in computers and televisions, in January started operations at its first factory that makes TV screens that are 32 inches diagonally and larger. The plant, known in the industry as a sixth-generation factory, is the world's third. Sharp Corp of Japan and LG.Philips LCD Co of South Korea last year started the first sixth-generation plants, which make the largest glass sheets from which television-sized screens can be cut.

■ NT dollar unchanged
The New Taiwan dollar remained unchanged against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday to close at NT$33.450. A total of US$568 million changed hands during the day's trading.

This story has been viewed 1828 times.