China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has urged the European Union (EU) to terminate an old practice in anti-dumping investigations of Chinese products by the end of this year, Xinhua News Agency reported. 
The "surrogate system" adopted by the EU is set to expire in December, according to a protocol of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on China's accession 15 years ago, an MOC statement said . 
All WTO members should abide by the protocol, regardless of their domestic standards or any other issues, including industrial overcapacity, said the statement. 
Under the current anti-dumping probe method, the EU uses costs of production in a third country to calculate the value of products from countries on its "non-market economy" list, which includes China. The practice allows the EU to easily levy high tariffs. 
The statement came after the European Commission held a second orientation debate on the treatment of China in anti-dumping investigations, considering the option to abolish the list and set up a new "country-neutral" method. 
China will closely watch the progress and assess the results, the statement said.