China launches WTO action over EU shoe levy
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China filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Thursday over the European Union (EU)'s decision to extend antidumping duties on Chinese-made shoes.
"The anti-dumping investigations and the findings made by the EU violated various obligations under the WTO, and consequently caused damage to the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese exporters," the Chinese WTO mission said in a statement.
China's Ministry of Commerce, in a statement posted on its website Thursday, also urged the EU to take seriously China's strong concerns and resolve the dispute through consultation at an early date.
Under WTO dispute settlement procedures, the EU and China have 60 days after the complaint was filed to find a solution to their dispute through consultation. If consultation fails, China can ask for a WTO expert panel to investigate and rule on the dispute.
According to the Chinese mission, the EU had imposed quota restrictions on imports of footwear from China for almost a decade from 1995 to 2005.
Despite its commitment to remove quota restrictions at the time of China's accession to the WTO, the EU initiated in 2005 an anti-dumping investigation against imports of footwear with uppers of leather from China without objective and fair examination and arbitrarily imposed measures for a period of two years in October 2006, the mission said.
In October 2008, the EU disregarded China's strong objections and initiated an expiry review that ignored consumers' interests, and on Dec. 22, 2009 decided to extend the anti-dumping measures for another 15 months, it said.
The Chinese government had repeatedly raised its concerns with the EU on both bilateral and multilateral occasions. China's footwear industry had also strongly protested against the decisions made by the EU. However, these concerns had not been properly addressed or settled, the statement said.
