Media-related information reported that the European footwear industry is currently brewing complaints against the anti-dumping sunset review of leather shoes imported from China and Vietnam. The current implementation of anti-dumping measures involving shoes in China will expire at the end of March next year. According to EU law, EU industry review appeals must be filed before the end of this month.

Recall that as the largest and longest-lasting anti-dumping case in the history of Sino-European trade, the European Union still has no signs of halting the "anti-dumping" of Chinese exports of leather shoes.

According to Pu Lingchen, a Chinese attorney who has been deputizing for anti-dumping cases involving shoes in China, the European footwear federation is likely to submit a review appeal before the end of this month because old shoe-making countries such as Italy and Spain continue to submit complaints. Once the appeal is successful, the anti-dumping time limit for China's export of leather shoes will be extended again.

In October 2006, the EU imposed a 16.5% anti-dumping duty on leather shoes originating in China for a period of 2 years. This is the largest anti-dumping case in the history of anti-dumping in China and Europe, involving a total amount of US$670 million. After the expiry of the end of 2008, the case entered the sunset review. In December last year, the European Commission once again ruled that the anti-dumping duty be extended by 15 months and expire in March 2011.

Wei Yafei, director of the shoemaking office of the China Leather Association, said that the anti-dumping case on leather shoes in the European Union has had a serious impact on the export of leather footwear products in China. The export of European leather shoes has continued to decline. In 2009, the growth rate of Chinese footwear exports was almost zero.

Aokang and other five Chinese shoe companies considered that the European Commission had violated the law in the investigation process. In December 2006, it submitted a judicial review to the European Court of First Instance and the result was rejected in March this year. In June this year, O'Connell once again filed a lawsuit to the European High Court to request a new trial. It is currently in the process of hearing the proceedings of both parties and is expected to close early next year. At the official level, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China invited the World Trade Organization to set up a task force to hear the anti-dumping case earlier this year, and the results of the ruling will be announced in March next year.