The European Commission is likely to impose a provisional tax on
imports of Chinese leather shoes, despite disagreement about the
move among member states.
The final decision, the result of allegations that Chinese firms
"dumped" cheap shoes in the European Union (EU), is scheduled to be
made next week.
The EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson proposed late last
month to levy an anti-dumping tariff on Chinese leather shoes
beginning from April.
The tariff rate will start at about 4 percent and rise to around
20 percent by October.
EU member states were split in the latest vote on Mandelson's
proposal on Thursday, but the coalition in favor of free trade was
not strong enough to prevent the proposal from taking effect.
Among the EU member states, the Financial Times reported that
three countries Belgium, Slovakia and Malta voted in favor of the
duties. Nine or 10, including Sweden, Ireland and Slovenia, voted
against and 11 abstained.
Abstentions are counted as votes in favor.
"Under the rules of the EU, a majority in a vote of member
states is needed to overrule a proposal by the European
Commission," explained Li Fayin, a legal expert with Beijing
Allbright Law Offices. In this case, with abstentions counted,
there were more votes in favor.
According to a statement published on the commission's website,
EU member states expressed a wide range of views, both in favor of
stronger provisional measures and in favor of more restricted
action.
"The commissioner's proposals represented a middle ground," it
said.
China's official response from the Ministry of Commerce was
not available on Friday.
Although high-tech sports shoes and children's shoes are exempt
from the tax, the tariffs are still expected to deal a heavy blow
to China's shoe-making industry, said an unnamed insider close to
the situation.
"China's own brand footwear makers mainly focus on the leather
shoe sector. The proposal will hit such firms hard," the source
said.
He explained that high-tech sports shoes and children's shoes
produced in China were largely labeled with foreign brand
names.
The European Commission said it would continue its investigation
to "establish a consensus among member states on a definitive
course of action when the investigation is concluded in the
autumn."
The EU dumping claim against Chinese and Vietnamese leather
shoes was initiated last July in parallel with a similar claim
against work shoes.
The European Commission has for now decided not to adopt
anti-dumping measures against work shoe imports from China because
no evidence was found that such imports had hurt the European
industry.
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Mandelson's proposal has generated protests from China, Viet Nam
and leading shoe producing companies in Asia.
'Measures are better than nothing'
Italy, which has a large shoe industry of its own, has also
protested about the measures, saying they are not tough enough.
An EU diplomat said Italy was among the countries that abstained
from Thursday's vote after the commission declined to make
significant changes to the proposed duties.
"Italy thinks the measures are better than nothing but do not go
far enough," the diplomat said.
The issue of competition from Asia has featured in campaigning
for Italy's general election next month, with the government
blaming the country's stagnant manufacturing sector and weak
economic growth on what it says is unfair trade.
Scandinavian countries, traditionally the EU's biggest
supporters of free trade, have rejected the need for anti-dumping
duties at all.
Mandelson is due to recommend to a meeting of the full European
Commission on March 22 the provisional duties be introduced.
Any definitive duties have to be applied from October.
Provisional duties do not require formal approval by EU member
states but definitive ones do.
(China Daily March 18, 2006)