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The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU), on Wednesday pushed forward a proposal to impose definitive anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes.

 

The duties proposed by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson were 16.5 percent for Chinese imports and 10 percent for Vietnamese products.

 

The proposal had been rejected earlier in the year. EU Member states in July rejected Mandelson's measure by introducing instead a deferred duty system that would allow 80 percent of Chinese and Vietnamese shoes to enter the EU free of any anti-dumping duties, with shoes entering above that allowance being subject to higher tariffs.

 

Mandelson came up with this latest plan in late July, which was again rejected by member states.

 

The commission said on Wednesday that it would "try its luck" since the proposal was rejected by only a narrow margin in July at the advisory level. "It will now return to member states for a legally binding vote. Member states may be asked to explain the legal rationale for their votes."

 

It said it is confident in the legal merits of the current proposal.

 

This proposal has brought to light differences between the free market supporters such as Britain, Denmark, Germany and Sweden -- who strongly oppose the imposition of protectionist tariffs that would raise prices for consumers -- and shoe manufacturing countries such as Italy, Spain, France, Poland and Portugal.

 

The measure could last five years if approved. The proposal also includes children's shoes, which were excluded from provisional duties.

 

The exclusion of children's shoes in the provisional measures was for community interest grounds to prevent even small additional costs being passed on to parents of young families, explained the commission on Wednesday.

 

However, there is considerable evidence of very serious fraud by importers that trade women's shoes as children's shoes. This makes the exclusion very difficult to implement in practice, the commission added.

 

Sport shoes remain excluded from the proposed definitive measure.

 

The commission introduced provisional anti-dumping duties against Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes in April. The provisional measure expires on October 6. If member states cannot agree on a definitive measure, no punitive duties will be imposed on Chinese and Vietnamese shoes.

 

According to data released by the commission, Chinese-made shoes accounted for half of the overall shoe market in 2005: 1.25 billion pairs out of 2.5 billion pairs. About a third of the shoes sold in the EU market in 2005 were leather shoes while products covered by the proposed definitive measure would cover 11 percent of the total EU shoe market.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2006)