It’s almost certain that the European Commission will exempt all the so-called STAF (special technology athletic footwear) shoes coming into the European Union above €9 a pair from the anti-dumping duties proposed by Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson (see previous issue). In spite of efforts by the Italian sporting goods industry association, Assosport, to change its mind, the Italian government insisted at a meeting of the anti-dumping committee yesterday to get the duties extended to STAF shoes, but only three-four other EU member countries are apparently supporting this view.
ANCI, the Italian shoe industry association, financed another big advertisement in London’s Financial Times where it called for the exclusion of chelseas and other types of walking shoes from the STAF exemption. CEC, the European shoe industry confederation, circulated another position paper where it called on members of the European Parliament next week to challenge several aspects of the STAF exemption.
For his part, Horst Widmann, president of FESI, the European sporting goods industry federation, pointed out that STAF had become a clearly defined and long-standing product category of the EU customs code which has been excluded from trade protection measures since 1994.
Mandelson repeated that importers and retailers can easily absorb the impact of the proposed duties on other types of leather shoes, but Widman said they instead have a “legal obligation to pass on the amount of the duties to consumers by increasing the price of the allegedly dumped products, unless they sacrifice their profits.”
He quoted a new study by the Danish Economics Ministry which says the duties would inflict annual losses of €295 million on European consumers and on European footwear companies producing in China and Vietnam, whereas the manufacturers who are calling for the duties would gain only about €37 million (more in Shoe Intelligence).
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