EU To Extend Anti-Dumping Tariffs On China,Vietnam Shoes-Source
BRUSSELS (AFP)--The European Union will extend anti-dumping tariffs on shoes from China and Vietnam into next year, an E.U. source said Monday.
The anti-dumping measures were introduced in 2006 to combat an influx of leather shoes into Europe from the two Asian countries that the E.U. said was boosted by unfair state aid.
The measure has been strongly attacked in Asia and, at the time they were imposed, the tariffs were supported by the smallest majority of E.U. states, with 13 of the 25 nations in favor.
The tariffs were originally imposed for two years and are due to expire next month.
Now, the source close to the dossier said, they will be extended into 2009 or beyond.
The E.U. anti-dumping measures involve import duties of 16.5% on Chinese shoes with leather uppers and 10% on the same kind of shoes from Vietnam.
The step provoked strong opposition from Chinese shoemakers and the government in Beijing, which said the measures did not conform with E.U. and World Trade Organization regulations.
Asked about the possibility of a tariff extension, a spokesman for E.U. Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson refused to comment.
However, a report in the London Sunday Times cited a senior official working in Mandelson's department as saying that the commission would call for a review when the current tariff period ends next month.
That would in effect extend the tariff period for a year or more after Mandelson tells his fellow commissioners about his decision this week, said the official..
The original two-year tariff period was a compromise to get the measures passed after the European Commission had proposed a five-year penalty.
The main vote fault line ran between Europe's economically liberal north, hostile in principle to anti-dumping measures, and the more protectionist south, sympathetic to the views of E.U. producers.
The tariffs were imposed after a commission investigation found that shoemakers in China and Vietnam unfairly benefited from state aid in the form of soft loans, tax breaks and cheap rents.
The anti-dumping measures were introduced in 2006 to combat an influx of leather shoes into Europe from the two Asian countries that the E.U. said was boosted by unfair state aid.
The measure has been strongly attacked in Asia and, at the time they were imposed, the tariffs were supported by the smallest majority of E.U. states, with 13 of the 25 nations in favor.
The tariffs were originally imposed for two years and are due to expire next month.
Now, the source close to the dossier said, they will be extended into 2009 or beyond.
The E.U. anti-dumping measures involve import duties of 16.5% on Chinese shoes with leather uppers and 10% on the same kind of shoes from Vietnam.
The step provoked strong opposition from Chinese shoemakers and the government in Beijing, which said the measures did not conform with E.U. and World Trade Organization regulations.
Asked about the possibility of a tariff extension, a spokesman for E.U. Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson refused to comment.
However, a report in the London Sunday Times cited a senior official working in Mandelson's department as saying that the commission would call for a review when the current tariff period ends next month.
That would in effect extend the tariff period for a year or more after Mandelson tells his fellow commissioners about his decision this week, said the official..
The original two-year tariff period was a compromise to get the measures passed after the European Commission had proposed a five-year penalty.
The main vote fault line ran between Europe's economically liberal north, hostile in principle to anti-dumping measures, and the more protectionist south, sympathetic to the views of E.U. producers.
The tariffs were imposed after a commission investigation found that shoemakers in China and Vietnam unfairly benefited from state aid in the form of soft loans, tax breaks and cheap rents.
