The European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) in Vietnam did not support the European Commission’s proposal to extend anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese shoes, EuroCham chairman Alain Cany said Tuesday.
Cany made the statement at a press conference on the EC’s plan to make a final decision later this month on the extension of anti-dumping tariffs on leather-capped shoes imported from Vietnam.
He told reporters in Ho Chi Minh City that EuroCham did not advocate a decision to extend the anti-dumping duties of 10 percent levied on Vietnamese shoes for another 15 months.
“We are against the measure…as we believe that this is going against the interest of most of our members, whether they are making shoes or importing shoes from Vietnam,” he said.
The EuroCham chairman said he did not know whether Vietnam is subsidizing its shoe making industry or not but he believed the EC was doing its job so there must be a lack of transparency in the case.
“So, I am encouraging the Vietnamese government to provide as much transparency as possible, and I understand that the EC is willing to consider differently if they can get the proof and sufficient understanding of the case,” he said.
A key panel of EU trade officials voted on Nov 19 to reject the EC proposal to extend dumping duties on shoes from China and Vietnam.
Fifteen of 27 state members voted against the proposal to extend 10 percent taxes on Vietnamese shoes for another 15 months.
According to Reuters, EU ministers must decide this month whether to uphold the vote or take the unusual decision of over-ruling their officials. Any decision to extend or end the duties would take effect on Jan. 3.
The EU first imposed duties of up to 16.5 percent on Chinese shoes and 10 percent on made-in-Vietnam shoes for two years in October 2006 after EU manufacturers accused the two governments of unfairly subsidizing their low-cost shoe makers so that EU producers could not compete, Reuters reported.
When that October 2008 deadline expired, the EC decided to conduct a term-end check at the request of the European shoe makers.
The EU is the largest market for Vietnamese leather shoes. Meanwhile, Vietnam is the second largest exporter of footwear to the EU after China.
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