Steel nuts and bolts. [Photo: chinafastener.com]

The World Trade Organization has ruled against the European Union in a dispute that has been raging since 2009 between the bloc and China over import duties on steel nuts and bolts.

China's Ministry of Commerce says the measures have had a "negative effect" on exports from China, measured at a cost of around 1 billion US dollars.

It has also resulted in 100-thousand people losing their jobs with thousands of fastener producers across the country.

Chen Fuli, deputy director of the legal department under the MOC, says the WTO's final verdict has historical significance to China's trade status in the world.

"The case went through the whole process of WTO dispute settlement. It is very significant to China. The verdict is the first one against the EU's anti-dumping legislation from a legal level. It also sends the EU's practice of 'One Country, One Tax' on the anti-dumping investigation to the 'grave.'"

At the same time, Professor Sang Baichuan of the University of International Business and Economics says the case will force the EU to change its legal basis.

"I think the verdict can help the EU to better follow the rules of the WTO's common trade. It has motivated the development of free trade and rebuilt the anti-dumping rules."

Sang says the WTO's final verdict opens a way for China to request compensation.