European Union (EU) trade commissioner Peter Mandelson speaks at a press conference at the EU headquarters in Brussels, capital of Belgium, Feb. 23, 2005. Mandelson proposed anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese and Vietnamese shoes, saying there is "compelling" evidence of dumping behavior on Thursday. (Xinhua Photo)

BRUSSELS, Feb. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- European Union (EU) Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on Thursday proposed introducing EU market anti-dumping duties of up to 19.4 percent on Chinese leather shoes and 16.8 percent on Vietnamese leather shoes, starting from April.

    Mandelson recommended that this provisional duty be phased in over a period of six months, beginning at about four percent on April 7. The anti-dumping measures will be provisional until October 7 and will be definitive in the following five years.

    However, he recommended that children's shoes and high-tech sports shoes be excluded from the tariffs.

    The EU has conducted an investigation into allegations of dumping of Chinese and Vietnamese shoes and found "compelling evidence" that there is "serious state intervention on a large and strategic industrial scale" in the footwear sector in China and Vietnam, Mandelson said.

    He claimed that along with evidence of a flawed accounting practice, the EU had found what he called evidence of non-commercial loans or capital grants from the Chinese and Vietnamese governments to footwear producers in their countries, inappropriate evaluations of assets, non-commercial rates for landuse, and tax breaks for footwear exporters.

    But the EU trade chief said children's shoes should be exempted from the duty as it would "disproportionately affect" families with young children and would not be in the public interest.

    Since there is no longer significant production of leather sports shoes in Europe and no injury from dumping has been demonstrated, Mandelson also proposed sports shoes be excluded.

    In order to minimize harm to European footwear importers whose goods are now in the process of being transported to Europe, Mandelson recommended the duty be phased in four stages over six months beginning in April.

    Mandelson said he had spoken to Vietnamese and Chinese ministers on Thursday morning over the dumping issue.

    The European Commission will continue to discuss with Chinese and Vietnam governments to address the concerns of the EU, he said.

    The commissioner said the EU was still investigating allegations of dumping of safety shoes from India and China, and at this time no anti-dumping measures would be imposed on these shoes. Enditem