EU advised to reconsider dumping claim By Jiang Wei (China Daily) Updated: 2006-02-25 07:23
China has urged the European Union (EU) to re-investigate its dumping claim
against Chinese leather shoes in the interest of fairness.
A customer makes a
selection of China-made shoes at a market in Yichang, central China's
Hubei Province in this August 22, 2005 photo. EU will impose import duties
as high as 20 percent on some leather shoes from China and Vietnam
starting in April. [newsphoto] | Europe lacks
evidence to support its claim that Chinese shoe exporters are dumping goods,
Chong Quan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said on Friday.
Chong was responding to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson's latest
proposal that called for duties on Chinese leather shoes to increase in phases
but quickly.
Mandelson said in a press release that they had found "compelling evidence of
state intervention, dumping and injury."
If Mandelson's proposal is approved, the EU will impose a 4.8 per cent
penalty duty on leather shoes from China beginning on April 1. The figure will
increase to 19.4 per cent by October.
This proposal is scheduled to be discussed earlier next month.
Chong denied the EU dumping charge, saying the EU's plan to levy anti-dumping
tariffs on Chinese leather shoes was protectionist and contradicted the trend of
trade liberalization.
He called for a review of the decision and asked the EU to treat the Chinese
companies fairly.
Denying Chinese shoe makers market economy treatment is particularly unfair,
he said.
The European Commission declined to give market economy treatment to 13
Chinese leather manufacturers, which it investigated last September.
As the EU does not yet regard China as a full market economy, China believes
it is vital for its enterprises to receive separate treatment in anti-dumping
cases. Otherwise, the European side will take the prices of a third country,
such as Brazil, as a substitute. Generally labour and material costs are higher
in those countries than in China.
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