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EU panel rejects extension of Asian shoe duties
A key panel of European Union trade officials voted on Thursday to reject a European Commission proposal to extend dumping duties on shoes from China and Vietnam, EU sources with knowledge of the vote said.
"Fifteen member states opposed the plan, 10 supported the Commission and two countries abstained," one of the sources told Reuters.
The EU's executive Commission still intends to put the proposal to a vote of ministers next month despite the defeat in the anti-dumping committee.
In October last year, the Commission -- which oversees trade policy for the 27-country European Union -- extended duties of up to 16.5 percent on imports of Chinese leather shoes and 10 percent on those made in Vietnam, pending a review.
The EU regularly splits over dumping cases between members supporting freer trade and those worried about cheap competition undermining their own manufacturers.
Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands and Sweden still want the duties scrapped immediately, sending a positive message before the lucrative Christmas retail period, an EU diplomat said.
But major shoe-producing members Italy, Spain, France and Poland want to keep the duties.
The EU first imposed duties of up to 16.5 percent on Chinese shoes and 10 percent on those made in Vietnam for two years in 2006 after EU manufacturers accused the two governments of unfairly subsidizing their low-cost shoe makers so that EU producers could not compete.
Brussels temporarily reimposed the tariffs last October pending a review, despite opposition from the majority of member states and the threat of legal action by Beijing at the World Trade Organization.
In a bid to avert another so-called "shoe war" with member states and further damaging already tense economic relations with China, the Commission -- which oversees EU trade policy -- has proposed a 15-month extension instead of the normal five-year term for what are known as "definitive duties".
Reuters, vietnews
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