By Daisy Ayliffe - 16th November 2005
Industry has warned EuropeanTrade Commissioner Peter Mandelson that protectionist EU measures on sports footwear could lead to the break out of “shoe wars.”
The European Commission is investigating accusations of that China and Vietnam are 'dumping' artifically low priced shoes into European markets.
The Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI) met Mandelson on Monday to express concern at the investigation.
FESI insists sports shoes should not be covered by the scope of the inquiry because “there is no viable European manufacturing industry in this sector to protect”.
“China and Vietnam are world leaders in the manufacture of hi-technology sporting footwear and cutting off these sources of supply would put a whole European industry at risk,” FESI Trade Committee Chairman Karl Sedlmeyer insisted.
“We must learn the lessons following the EU/China textiles negotiations over the summer. This investigation has the potential to be much more damaging.”
European producers of leather shoes – such as Italy, Spain and Portugal – are pushing the commission to introduce measures to stamp out dumping.
But the sports shoe industry is adamant that protectionism would threaten jobs and turn back a decade of trade policy – trainers have been exempt from quotas since 1994.
But the commission insists it is legally bound to investigate dumping allegations.
“The meeting with EFSI was constructive,” a commission official explained.
“Of course EU retailers are important. We assess community interest and this is not the first time we have met representatives from the shoe retailer industry.”
“In this case – as in all others – the interests of EU will be unequivocally taken in account,” he insisted.
The commission will rule on the investigation before next April next year – but could come to a conclusion before then.
Mandelson could indicate whether he supports the implementation of tariffs in this sector in the next few weeks.
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