Four Chinese shoemakers win appeal against EU anti-dumping duties

Feb 2, 2012, 15:47 GMT

Brussels - Four Chinese shoe manufacturers won an appeal Thursday against European Union import duties on their products, allowing them to claim back the money paid over the past five years.

Brosmann Footwear and Risen Footwear, both of Hong Kong, as well as Seasonable Footwear of Zhongshan and Lung Pao Footwear of Guangzhou, lodged appeals against an EU 16.5-per-cent anti-dumping duty shortly after it was introduced in October 2006.

On Thursday, the EU Court of Justice said that the European Commission was wrong not to consider the companies' individual application for an exemption from the tariffs.

It thus overturned a 2010 ruling from a lower EU court, which had justified the commission's decision to consider only a sample of applications because there were too many and it could not process all of them.

On this basis, the Luxembourg-based court invalidated the application of the tariffs - which were extended in 2009 - to the four Chinese companies.

That will allow them to reclaim the amounts paid for the tariffs from the EU national customs authorities that collected them, officials from the commission's trade department told dpa.

The EU court also ordered the secretariat of EU governments, the EU Council, to refund the Chinese firms for the costs they incurred during their five-year legal battle.

The EU's anti-dumping measures were temporary and have expired at the end of March 2011, while the World Trade Organization (WTO) was reviewing a Chinese appeal against them.

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