EC Evaluating Vietnam's Proposal on Shoe Export Duties
The European Commission (EC) is evaluating a proposed five-year tariff quota package on leather shoes imported to the bloc from Vietnam to replace current provisional anti-dumping measures.
The Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) said that if the proposal is ratified, it would take effect when the current duty package expires in October.
It added the 4.2 per cent duty on imports, which took effect on April 7 this year, would progressively increase to 16.8 per cent by September 15.
Under the new proposal, the EC could import up to 95 million pairs of Vietnamese-made leather shoes with a 7.5 per cent duty. Subsequent imports would face a higher tariff bracket of 29.5 per cent, according to Lefaso.
The association's deputy chairman, Nguyen Quang Thuan, said Lefaso had yet to receive any official information about the EC proposals because the ministers of the 25 EC member countries had not yet reached an official agreement on the matter.
Diep Thanh Kiet, director of garment and footwear company Wec Sai Gon, said the revised proposal created better export opportunities for domestic producers to export under the 7.5 per cent tariffs, considerably lower than 16.8 per cent rates.
Local exporters have already lost European customers as a result of the anti-dumping case. If exporters exceed quota limits, penalty duties of 29.5 per cent could present a major problem to Vietnamese producers, noted Lefaso.
TN
Vietnamese
