EU to decide soon on next step in China car row

BRUSSELS, Sep 12 (Reuters) The European Union will decide soon whether to press on with a challenge at the World Trade Organisation against what it considers unfair treatment of EU carmakers by China, an EU official said on Tuesday.

The 25-nation bloc and the United States both took a first step towards a WTO case against China in March when they called Beijing to talks to find a solution to the row.

''We have not been able to secure a satisfactory solution to this problem with the Chinese at this time,'' the EU official said, asking not to be identified.

''We are left contemplating the next step. We have signalled in the past that we regard the issue seriously enough to consider seeking a solution in the WTO,'' the official said, adding a decision would be made soon.

The issue remains unresolved despite an EU-China summit that took place on Saturday in Helsinki, which some trade experts had seen as a chance for discussions.

Earlier this month, a spokesman for U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said the United States could also soon take the next step in its complaint against China's automotive tariff policies.

The next stage would see Brussels and Washington asking the WTO to set up a dispute resolution panel that would probably run for more than a year, the EU official said.

The EU and the United States want China to change tariff policies they say hinder Western automakers and car part suppliers in China, now one of the world's biggest auto markets.

China considers car parts as a ''whole vehicle'' if they account for 60 percent or more of the value of the final vehicle and it charges a higher tariff on them, the European Commission has said.

The rule appears designed to help Chinese car part makers, officials in Brussels and Washington say.

Carmakers from both sides of the Atlantic have invested heavily in China to set up joint ventures to make vehicles.

REUTERS PKS HS2124