People purchase shoes at a supermarket in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan Province. [newsphoto]

Late last month, EU Trade Commission Peter Mandelson proposed a new anti-dumping scheme for shoe imports from China and Viet Nam, under which the EU would slap a blanket duty of 16.5 per cent on all leather shoe imports from China and 10 per cent on imports from Viet Nam.

Jin Lu Shoes, the only Chinese company to get market economy status from the European Commission in this case, would be charged 9.7 per cent.

Although they do not come under the current provisional regime, some categories of footwear, such as children's shoes, would be covered by the new anti-dumping duties, which could last as much as five years.

European retailers are unhappy with the new proposal, with some saying that it would be difficult for them to pass the additional costs on to consumers.

In July, Mandelson put forward his first draft plan for the final ruling on leather shoes.

He planned to let 140 million pairs of Chinese leather shoes come into the European market free of duties, but impose tariffs of up to 23 per cent on additional imports of leather shoes from China.

EU member states such as Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Poland rejected the scheme, under which 80 per cent of Asian imports would be exempted from tariffs, believing that it was too weak.

The EU then imposed a provisional tariff of 14.5 per cent on Chinese leather shoes.

Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday that Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng will visit Europe next month for high-level negotiations with the European Union on the controversy.

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