July 28, 2006	Friday	Rajab 1, 1427

BRUSSELS, July 27: The European Commission has given EU countries a week to respond to its latest plan for anti-dumping duties on shoes from China and Vietnam, prompting complaints from some governments that they are being rushed.

Brussels, in a hurry to end the high-profile trade dispute, is seeking a middle ground between shoe-producing nations in the European Union led by Italy which want protection and pro-free trade countries in the bloc opposed to any measures at all.

This week it proposed anti-dumping duties of 10 and 16.5pc for leather footwear from Vietnam and China respectively after a previous plan was thrown out by EU countries.

At a meeting on Thursday, anti-dumping experts from EU capitals complained they had only had a day to study the proposals, officials who attended the meeting said.

The Commission then asked them to submit in writing their opinions on the proposals by the end of next week, they said.

“This is very short notice,” said a trade official from Denmark which traditionally opposes measures to slow imports.

Brussels is in a hurry because any anti-dumping tariffs must be in place by October when preliminary duties on Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes are due to expire.

The preliminary measures were introduced in April after Brussels said it found evidence of state intervention in both Asian countries that unfairly helped shoe exporters.

The governments of China and Vietnam denied any dumping. International shoe companies, which increasingly manufacture in Asia, also criticised the Commission's handling of the case.

“It’s a little disappointing,” said James Zwiers, general counsel with US footwear group Wolverine World Wide, saying the written procedure “reduced visibility” of how the plan would advance.

A group representing sportswear giants such as Nike and Adidas Reebok urged Brussels to keep an open mind.“This case has such a big impact on business and consumers that the Commission needs to be completely transparent in the way it handles the procedure,” the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry said in a statement.

A Commission official said Brussels expected to get enough backing to press on with the duties plan. “Our feeling is that we probably have enough support to get it through,” he said.

Support from a majority of the 25 EU countries in the anti-dumping committee would prompt EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to submit the plan for formal approval by the full Commission and EU governments.—Reuters