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)