Only 14 of China's 1,200 shoe manufacturers were expected to follow through and file a lawsuit against the European Union's anti-dumping tariffs before the appeal deadline of December 16.

 

The complicated and long drawn-out appeal process -- not to mention the huge costs -- have scared companies off, said Guo Weiwen, general secretary of the China Alliance in Response to EU Anti-Dumping of Chinese Footwear.

 

Most small and medium-sized shoemakers prefer to adapt their products and reorient exports or even retreat from the EU market, said Guo.

 

Yu Shengxing, a lawyer familiar with the case, said getting the tariff revoked would be very difficult. However, he thought the situation was encouraging compared with previous cases when only one or two companies chose to appeal.

 

On October 7 the EU slapped a two-year 16.5 percent anti-dumping tariff on China-made and 10 percent on Vietnam-made shoes.

 

The EU has recently updated its trade remedy policies which were labeled as "outdated" by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.

 

Local experts said this could mean further EU restrictions on Chinese exports which may sour the bilateral trading relationship.

 

The EU is China's No.1 trading partner. Trade hit US$218.9 billion in the January-October  period and is expected to surpass US$250 billion for the whole year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2006)