The Aokang Group, China's largest privately owned shoemaker, revealed on Thursday that it will officially lodge a lawsuit against the European Union's (EU) anti-dumping tariffs within seven days. 

Company officials said Aokang's petition had already been sent to its European lawyers. They'd formally deliver it to the EU Court of First Instance before December 20.

Aokang Group is the first Chinese shoemaker to begin proceedings less than three weeks after the EU imposed two-year anti-dumping duties of 16.5 percent on leather shoes made by China on October 7.

"We were left with no other choice but to file a lawsuit", said Wang Zhentao, President of Aokang. Based in Wenzhou, in east China's Zhejiang Province, Aokang produced 13 million pairs of leather shoes last year and exported three million of them.

The company's lawyer, Pu Lingchen, said the duties violated the EU's regulations on anti-dumping. Pu, widely regarded as China's top anti-dumping lawyer, said the regulations prescribed that the EU should review the market economy status of all the companies involved.

"The EU only reviewed ten Chinese shoemakers," Pu said, "Quite contrary to common practice it didn't send Aokang any written explanations on why they failed to include the company on the list of companies to be reviewed."

Many insiders believe this type of case could last two to four years and cost up to two million yuan (US$255,750).

As a result, 300 shoemakers in southeastern Fujian Province have abandoned their planned lawsuit and only four out of the 1,200-plus affected Chinese shoemakers are still continuing with proceedings.

But Wang remains confident of winning the case. "No matter how complicated the legal procedures are and how tough our task is we believe in justice," he said in late October.

Chong Quan, spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce, has said the EU's anti-dumping measures against Chinese leather shoe imports lacked "sufficient and factual evidence".

Su Chaoying, deputy director of China Leather Association said, "The lawsuit will help Chinese shoemakers win more support from shoe retailers and importers in the EU when the anti-dumping case is reviewed in 2008."

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2006)