A European Union plan to prolong tariffs on Vietnamese shoes for 15 months was thrown into doubt when EU nations criticized the bid to maintain protection for Europe’s producers against lower-cost rivals.
The opposition by national trade experts in the EU undermines the European Commission’s recommendation to extend the duties of as much as 16.5 percent on leather footwear from Vietnam. EU ministers must decide by early January whether to let the levies — meant to counter below-cost, or “dumped,” imports from the country — lapse.
The recommendation by the commission, the EU’s regulatory arm, for a 15-month extension of the duties is a compromise resulting from evidence that dumping continues and from a split within the 27-nation bloc over the case. The EU normally prolongs anti-dumping duties for five years.
“We will carefully consider what we heard today from the member states and will take that into account when preparing our formal proposal for governments, which are responsible for the final decision,” commission trade spokesman Lutz Guellner said by telephone from Brussels, where the national officials discussed the matter.
At stake is protection from cheaper imports for 8,000 European leather-shoe manufacturers, mainly small businesses in southern Europe. Four-fifths of the EU’s leather shoes come from Italy, Portugal and Spain, which face objections to the trade protection from northern nations.
The EU’s 2006 decision to impose the levies on 9.7 billion euros ($14.4 billion) of Chinese and Vietnamese footwear for two years was a compromise because anti-dumping measures are usually applied for five years. The levies are 16.5 percent against China and 10 percent against Vietnam.
Since early October 2008, when they were originally due to expire, the duties have automatically stayed in place while the EU considers whether to re-impose them. Such reviews must be completed within 15 months.
Bloomberg, November 19, 2009.
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