Thomson GV's complaint, issued to the EC last month, claimed that certain Japanese camera systems were being brought into the European market and sold at a lower price than they are in their home territory.
The French-registered company states in the complaint that existing measures to protect European camera manufacturers from being priced out of the market - which protect cameras attached to a triax, such as studio cameras - need redefining.
Thomson GV said the way in which technology has developed - with cameras becoming smaller, cheaper and more sophisticated - has meant that some traditional shoulder-mount studio cameras are now light enough to be used as camcorders and are regularly used across factual and reality programming.
Although the makes and models of cameras were not revealed in the complaint, Panasonic, Sony, JVC, Hitachi and Ikegami have all been identified as importers of these cameras into the EU.
In the broadcast market, the cameras most likely to be hit by the complaint are DV systems at the cheaper end of the market - such as the Sony Z1, PD150/70, and Panasonic's AGDVX100 - and JVC's GY-HD100E, a shoulder-mount camera light enough to be used as a handheld camcorder.
The EC is now undertaking an interim review of the complaint and a decision is expected to be made next February.
It echoes a complaint made by Thomson and Philips a decade ago over the dumping of Japanese studio cameras in Europe. When the complaint was upheld, cameras from Japanese companies such as Panasonic, Ikegami and Hitachi were effectively priced out of the market after they were hit by duty levies understood to range from 80% to 150%. Thomson later bought its European rival Philips' professional broadcast division
in 2000.
If Thomson GV's recent complaint is accepted and anti-dumping levies are once again imposed, it could see production companies specialising in documentaries and reality programming paying up to twice as much for their DV cameras.
It also potentially leaves the BBC in a sticky situation. The corporation recently selected both the complainant Thomson GV and Panasonic - one of the named 'dumpers' - as the preferred suppliers for its Starwinder project to trial tapeless cameras.
The BBC's head of technology production, Paul Cheesbrough, said: 'Thomson has made us aware of its position and the BBC is currently considering a formal response. We work closely with other camcorder manufacturers, especially Panasonic, and we're clear that these relationships will continue into the future. On the face of it, the Thomson position does not appear to be in the interest of the industry as a whole but we will speak with other UK broadcasters before putting a formal position to the EC.'
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