The European Commission on October 15 approved a one-year extension of anti-dumping duties on imports of energy-saving light bulbs from China, despite protests from environmentalists, leading bulb manufacturers and several member nations.

Many of these European bulb manufacturers, such as Italian lighting company Targetti and the Dutch-based Philips, have their facilities in China

"The measures are aimed at addressing unfair competitive advantages resulting from the dumping of imports onto the [eu] market,' said the 27-nation bloc in a statement issued at a foreign ministers meeting at Luxembourg. The decision came despite eu's ambitious targets of phasing out high-energy light bulbs and replacing them with energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.

In 2001, the eu hiked duties on imports of bulbs from units in China