The Chinese government yesterday denounced the European Commission's decision to impose anti-dumping duties on leather shoes from China, saying the penalty was not justified.

The EU has decided to impose provisional tariffs on Chinese leather shoes from April 7, claiming that there was evidence of "State-supported dumping".

"The EU decision is a step backward because it deprives companies of the right to respond," Chong Quan, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said. 

He explained that the EU declined to grant market economic treatment to 13 Chinese firms that were investigated, despite the fact that all of them were private or foreign-invested companies. The EU has also declined to give market treatment to any other Chinese leather shoemakers without giving an explanation for that decision. Market economy treatment affords companies lower duties in dumping claims.

Chong warned that the EU anti-dumping measures would also hurt the Europeans. According to the statistics from the ministry, 15 EU member states have 478 shoe production plants in China.

In another development, the EU on Tuesday decided to reinstate a 44.6 percent anti-dumping tariff on seven major Chinese color TV makers, claiming that one company breached a 2002 agreement made with the EU on export pricing and quantity, Southern Metropolitan News reported today.

The seven companies include Xiamen Overseas Chinese Electronic Co Ltd, Haier Electrical Appliances Corporation Ltd, Hisense Import & Export Co and Konka Group Co Ltd, according to an insider, who requested anonymity.

The EU reportedly based its decision on Konka's refusal to participate in an investigation previously agreed to, said Yu Zhipu, secretary-general of the Home Appliances Division of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME).

However, neither CCCME nor lawyers representing these seven firms have received any official notice from the European economic bloc, today's China Daily reported.

In 1999, the EU imposed a 44.6 percent anti-dumping duty on color TV sets from China, which kept nearly all Chinese color TVs out of the EU market.

Three years later, seven major Chinese TV makers won back access to the EU market by agreeing to quantitative and price ceilings for defined periods of sales. They also agreed that a breach by even one company would amount to a breach by all seven companies.

Xiang Dong, a legal expert with Allbright Law Office, which specializes in anti-dumping cases, said: "This was the first time the EU had accepted an undertaking since 1990. Now that it's been breached, this could have an impact on other EU dumping claims."

The EU anti-dumping measures apply only to made-in-China cathode ray tube (CRT) TV sets.

However, the global market share of CRT TV sets declined dramatically with the introduction of flat-screen TVs. According to customs and excise statistics, China's CRT TV exports to the EU dropped 14.3 percent year-on-year in 2005, while exports of liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs and plasma TVs grew 17.6 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.

(China Daily March 30, 2006)