The Commission is said to be investigating the huge increase in footwear imports to the EU from 2005 to 2006: around 400,000 pairs found their way to Europe in the period April-December 2005 compared with eight million pairs in the same period of 2006. However, even the 2006 figures are reported to be significantly lower than 2004.
It is fairly certain that Macau does not have the manufacturing capacity to produce eight million pairs of shoes a year. This raises the suspicion that since anti-dumping duties have been imposed on China, Macau is being used as a back-door means of exporting Chinese footwear to Europe and avoiding anti-dumping costs.
The EU investigation is likely to take nine months to complete and if circumvention is proved, the result will depend on whether the EU believes the Macau government to be aware of any plan to avoid paying duties. Either way, anti-dumping duties are likely to be extended to Macau at the same rate as China.
Source: [http://www.aplf.com]
