The European Union (EU), the world's biggest market, on Dec. 17 decided to prolong anti-dumping duties on shoes imported from China and Vietnam for 15 months.
The extension of anti-dumping duties–first introduced more than three years ago–was agreed by EU member states despite protests from many countries, led by Britain .
The decision will be passed into law when EU environment ministers meet on Dec. 22, the last opportunity for it to be formalised.
Last month’s discussions over the extension proposed by the European Commission (EC), caused 15 of the 27 member states in the EU to voice their opposition to the plan. The EU’s anti-dumping advisory committee also voted to reject the EC proposal on Nov. 19, 2009.
Punitive taxes on imported shoes have created a strong division in the EU since its introduction to limit the market share of cheap Chinese and Vietnamese shoes over the small community of shoemakers in Europe, especially in Italy and Spain .
The anti-dumping tariff rate imposed by the EC was 16.5 percent on Chinese and 10 percent on Vietnamese leather shoes. Many EU members described the duties as protectionism while many other big shoe retailers including Clarks and Adidas also voiced their oppositions against the EC’s measure.
The EC’s imposition of a 10 percent anti-dumping tax on Vietnam’s leather-capped shoes over the past three years and its decision to eliminate the country’s footwear sector from the list of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) beneficiaries during the 2009-2011 period have caused harm to the Vietnamese footwear makers employing more than 650,000 workers.
The EC’s imposition of punitive taxes runs counter against EU’s policy when it announced to promote trade liberalisation against the return of protectionism; reduces the effectiveness of poverty programmes sponsored by the EC and the EU to Vietnam ; and causes an adverse impact on its overall desire to develop the relationship between Vietnam and the EU.
It is proved that the imposition does not serve the common interest of the European community, particularly the European consumers’ benefits.
Public opinion said that the EC’s proposal is subjective, unfair and conscienceless./.