BRUSSELS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Punitive tariffs against imported Chinese solar products will lead to "very significant job losses" for the European Union (EU), a study by the independent economic institute Prognos showed Tuesday.

A punitive tariff of 60 percent against China's solar products would lead to 193,700 job losses in the EU during the first year of the tariff's imposition, according to Prognos's report, commissioned by the Alliance for Affordable Solar Energy.

The number of job losses would add up to 242,000 in the third year of the implementation of the punitive tariffs, said the report.

Even a punitive tariff of 20 percent would cost 115,600 jobs in the EU during the first year after the implementation, and this would add up to 175,500 job losses until the third year.

The report came months after the European Commission started an anti-dumping investigation in September last year and anti-subsidy probe last November against imported Chinese solar products.

The job losses would mainly happen to non-manufacturing sections of the value chain of the EU's photovoltaic industry.

Punitive tariffs cause a reduction in demand which is directly followed by a shrinking demand for installations and services in the industry, said the report.