There are no guarantees that European Union (EU) Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson could produce by early October an anti-dumping plan on Chinese and Vietnamese shoes which is acceptable to most EU member states, his spokesman Peter Power admitted Friday.

Fourteen of the bloc's 25 member states on Thursday voted against the second proposal put forward by Mandelson which if adopted will come into effect on October 7 as the definitive anti-dumping measures on leather shoes from the two Asian countries. 

The proposal foresees a blanket duty of 16.5 percent on Chinese leather shoe imports and 10 percent on Vietnamese imports.

It would also affect children's shoes -- defined as sizes below 38 -- which are not included in provisional anti-dumping measures enforced as of April 7.

Definitive measures are expected to remain in place for five years.

"Anti-dumping measures are extremely sensitive and member states have different views on the subject," Power said at a daily press briefing on Friday.

A number of EU states including Nordic countries, Britain and the Netherlands, which mainly import shoes from overseas, have spoken out against anti-dumping duties on shoes from China and Vietnam, calling them "protectionist."

However, time is short as the current provisional duties run out on October 7. Power said new measures would "clearly need to be in place before that date" but noted that the European Commission would not rush into a final deal on the issue.

The commission, the EU's executive body, said in March that its investigation found widespread violation of international trade rules in China and Vietnam, which results in shoes being exported at below-cost prices.

It then agreed to levy provisional anti-dumping duties on the two Asian countries for six months starting from April, which are to be followed by definitive ones in the next five years.

The move drew criticism from both within and out of the EU.

European importers and retailers said the measures would hurt consumers and eventually harmful to EU's economy.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2006)