The European Commission adopted proposals by the European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on March 23 to impose a provisional anti-dumping duty on leather shoes from China and Vietnam.

The measures follow a preliminary Commission investigation that identified clear evidence of disguised subsidies and unfair state intervention to the leather footwear sector in China and Vietnam.

On announcing the provisional duties, the Trade Commissioner firmly reiterated his willingness to work with the Vietnamese and Chinese governments to address the questions of competitive distortions raised by the Commission’s investigation. He said, "These anti-dumping measures will correct the injury caused to European leather shoe producers. It is important that we act against unfair trade while encouraging legitimate and competitive trade from emerging economies. We do not target China and Vietnam’s natural competitive advantages, only unfair distortions of trade.”

In order to minimise any sudden impact on imports, the duties will be imposed progressively over a period of five months, beginning on April 7. They will rise to 16.8% for leather shoes from Vietnam and 19.4% for leather shoes from China.

The provisional measures exclude children’s leather shoes so as to ensure that even the small price rises are not passed on to poorer families. Special Technology Advanced Footwear will also be excluded from the measures because there is not sufficient production of these shoes in Europe for injury to have occurred. A monitoring mechanism will be created to ensure that importers do not use these excluded categories to circumvent the duties.