EU May Impose Dumping Duty on Vietnamese Shoes

The European Commission (EC) said on February 19 that it wants to impose anti-dumping duties on leather shoes made in China and Vietnam, State media report.

 

This week, European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson will recommend to 25 European Union (EU) members that a duty of less than 20 per cent should be applied on shoes made in the two Asian countries.

 

Italian footwear firms even want to impose a duty of up to more than 50 per cent on such shoes. 

 

If approved, an initial duty level of 4 per cent will be applied from this April.

 

The EU's executive Commission has been investigating since last year whether the shoes made in the two Asian countries were being sold too cheaply in the 25-nation bloc, after complaints by EU producers led by Italy.

 

EC said provisional results from an anti-dumping investigation showed "compelling evidence of state intervention by China and Vietnam and dumping flowing from that intervention". The China-Vietnam probe found evidence that shoemakers benefited from tax breaks, cheap finance, improper asset valuations and non-market rents for land.

 

China has warned the EU it might complain to the World Trade Organization if anti-dumping duties are levied on its shoe exports, Chinese Commerce Ministry officials have said.

 

Last month, Vietnamese deputy foreign minister Le Van Bang told EU officials in Brussels that the EU duties on Vietnamese shoe imports will throw millions into poverty.

Bang said he believed the EU may exclude sports shoes from its investigation, but did not elaborate.

 

China and Vietnam each exported an estimated US$2 billion worth of shoes to the EU last year.
Youth, Labour