Washington, Oct 30 (IANS): The US International Trade Commission Tuesday approved countervailing duties and anti-dumping probes on imports from China and Japan of a chemical that is often used to sanitise water in swimming pools.

Four participating commissioners voted in the affirmative that there is a reasonable indication that a US industry is materially hurt by imports from China and Japan of the chemical whose technical name is chlorinated isocyanurates, Xinhua cited from a statement by the trade commission.

As a result, the US Commerce Department will continue its preliminary countervailing duty probe concerning China due on or about Dec 9 and its preliminary anti-dumping duty decision concerning Japan in February 2014, it said.

The probe is based on a complaint filed by West Virginia-based Clearon Corp. and Texas-based Occidental Chemical Corporation, which alleged the dumping margins between 129.4 percent and 218.1 percent and the subsidy rate well above two percent.

In 2012, imports of this chemical from China and Japan were estimated at $145.2 million and $57.7 million respectively.