The EU is planning to impose anti-dumping duties on imported footwear from China and Vietnam, after imports exceed a certain quantity. As of April, the EU has applied provisional anti-dumping duties on leather footwear. The provisional duties of 19.4% for China and 16.8% for Vietnam apply to all imports. Recently, the European Commission proposed that these provisional anti-dumping duties should be replaced by a so called Delayed Duty System. The DDS would mean that only imports which exceed a certain threshold will face anti-dumping duties. This threshold amounts to 80% of EU imports from China last year and 92% of the imports from Vietnam. In addition the proposed duties will be higher: 23% for Chinese footwear and 29.5% for Vietnamese footwear.

The Footwear Association of Importers and Retail chains has expressed concern over these thresholds and the corresponding duties. Paul Verrips, Secretary General of F.A.I.R. said, “Yes, of course we are disappointed that the Commission could not bring itself to completely abandon protectionist measures. Only abandoning these measures completely would have been a truly acceptable outcome, especially in the light of long term market developments, and the serious legal shortcomings in the anti-dumping investigation.”