The decision comes several days after EU governments approved the duties, and adds to a raft of recent EU trade barriers against Chinese imports that are straining relations between the two sides.
"In view of the conclusions reached with regard to dumping, injury, causation and Union interest, provisional anti-dumping measures should be imposed in order to prevent further injury being caused to the Union producers by the dumped imports," the EU said in its official register.
Duties of up to 39.1 percent will apply for up to six months while EU trade officials consider whether to launch definitive duties valid for up to five years.
Indonesian paper giant Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), which exports paper to Europe from China through two subsidiaries, will be the only company to be granted a lower rate, of 19.7 percent.
APP denied its export pricing hurts EU producers and said the EU investigation had insufficient support in EU industry and should be scrapped.
"The investigation has been based on a number of flaws," APP spokesman Stuart Andrews said in a statement.
"The injury and causation analysis disregards essential facts such as the overcapacity in the EU industry, the impact on the decrease of EU exports of glossy paper and the global and financial crisis (and) the increased use of the internet."
It is not yet clear whether the EU executive Commission will seek to impose further duties by mid-January, in a parallel investigation into Chinese subsidies for the paper industry.
Those duties must launch in Jan. 2011, under EU law. The subsidy investigation, with serious political implications, is Europe's first against China.
EU trade chief Karel De Gucht said this week that China subsidised "nearly everything" and that the EU would increasingly target Chinese state assistance.
Coated fine paper is used mainly for coffee-table books and glossy brochures. (Reuters).
