EU members approve two-year anti-dumping duties on Chinese, Vietnamese shoes

European Union (EU) member states on Wednesday approved, by a slight margin, a compromise proposal to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoe imports for two years starting from October 7.

Permanent representatives of the 25 EU nations, meeting Wednesday in Brussels, voted on the proposal to slap duties of 16.5 percent and 10 percent respectively for Chinese and Vietnamese imports, European Commission trade spokesman Peter Power said.

Nine countries voted in favor of the two-year measures and 12 against, with 4 countries abstaining, he said.

Under EU law, abstentions in such cases count as being in favor of the proposal as they do not oppose it. Therefore the measures narrowly went through 13-12.

The duties will become official after being adopted by EU interior and justice ministers when they meet on Thursday in Luxembourg, Power said.

Children's shoes, which were not covered by the provisional anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese shoes introduced since April 7, are now subject to the definitive duties.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson had originally proposed five-year definitive duties, which were rejected by member states. France then proposed a compromise of two years of duties instead of five.

In April, the EU imposed provisional tariffs of 19.4 percent on leather shoes from China and 16.8 percent for those from Vietnam, which were phased in over six months.

The measures were vehemently opposed by China and Vietnam, who labeled them as trade protectionism.

Source: Xinhua