EU regulations state that the 10% anti-dumping tariff levied on Vietnamese shoes exported to the EU market since October 2006 will be automatically removed on October 7, 2008, providing the EC received no appeals from any of its 27 members by July 7, 2008.
Although this deadline has passed, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Association of Footwear Producers of Italy has been preparing a formal appeal to the EC asking the commission to extend the anti-dumping tariff deadline.
Under EU regulations, if the appeal is submitted, the commission will reinvestigate Vietnam’s leather shoes within fifteen months and the anti-dumping tariff will continue to apply during this period. After the review time, the EC will decide to end or extend the anti-dumping tariff application time.
It would be very difficult for Vietnamese companies to promote sales to the EU if they were again under anti-dumping investigations by the EC which decided to remove Vietnamese shoe firms from the list of their generalized system of preference (GSP) beneficiaries from January 2009, said Bui Son Dung, vice director of the ministry’s Competition Management Department.
Footwear makers in Vietnam exported nearly US$2.2 billion worth of shoes to the EU market in 2007, up 10.6% against 2006. The ministry has predicted that shoe exports to the EU will grow 7-8% this year.
