Commission bids to bring dumped shoes to heel

Proposals to stem the flow of cheap imports from Asia of leather shoes will be formally published by the European Commission at the end of August, but only after a fierce bout of lobbying involving national governments and industry.

Peter Mandelson, European commissioner for trade, launched revised proposals for anti-dumping duties last week which would impose blanket duties of 10% and 16.5% on imports from Vietnam and China respectively.

EU manufacturers with factories in Vietnam and China expressed their exasperation with the Commission's proposals which, they believe, are unfair. "The Commission is penalising manufacturers," said Camilla Buchanan, an associate at law firm Hogan and Hartson representing the European Branded Footwear Coalition. "This is not fair. The type of footwear produced by our manufacturers is not produced in the EU, so it does not affect the EU market."

The coalition, which includes shoemakers such as Timberland, Wolverine and New Balance, claimed that its calls for a variable duty exempting expensive imports went unheeded by the Commission.

The variable duty solution would involve a minimum import price above which goods would be exempt from duties. Manufacturers of imports falling below the threshold would have the choice of paying the difference between the actual price and the minimum price or of paying an 'ad valorem' duty.

"We did not consider the minimum import price as a viable option," said Peter Power, the Commission's trade spokesperson. "Basically, we are confident that the current proposals will gather sufficient support among member states."

National officials will discuss the proposals today (3 August) and opposition is expected from Sweden, Denmark and the UK.

"Our general position is that we are very sceptical of anti-dumping measures," said Klaus Roftell, an official at the Danish ministry of economic and business affairs. "First, they harm consumers. Second, they harm innovative industries outsourcing certain activities."

A Swedish official said: "We are very reluctant to [introduce] any sort of measure. We want to keep the borders open." She signalled that the opponents of anti-dumping measures were hoping for support from less economically liberal member states. "It is an issue where we're not sure the normal divisions between member states will prevail," she said.

Earlier proposals for higher duties of 16.8% and 19.4% for Vietnam and China respectively, with 80% of imports exempted, were rejected two weeks ago by shoe manufacturing countries including Italy, Spain and Portugal, which argued that the measures were too soft.

Proposals to stem the flow of cheap imports from Asia of leather shoes will be formally published by the European Commission at the end of August, but only after a fierce bout of lobbying involving national governments and industry.