Responding To Anti-Dumping: Chinese Shoe Companies Fight For Tomorrow

Is it silent or respondent? Is it a matter of resignation or arguing? The European Union officially launched its origin in China.

Very long

"Local time December 28, 2006,

Pu Ling Jun is a defense lawyer who won the first case of China's first World War on lighters. It is also the first successful case of Chinese enterprises in the anti-dumping case, the attorney for Yunnan Malone yellow phosphorus anti-dumping case.

According to him, the formal acceptance of a lawsuit is only the beginning of a long lawsuit. After the initiation of the proceedings, the European Commission and the Chinese enterprises will carry out two rounds of written defense in turn. After the conclusion, there will be another round of oral defense. Finally, the European Court will make a decision on this basis.

The main reply is written, and the written defense time of each round should be between 3 and 5 months.

It is estimated that a set of procedures may take about 2 years.

Pu Ling dust analysis said: "from the point of view of damage identification, the EU is not quite in line with the WTO regulations, nor is it in line with its own anti-dumping law".

This statement coincides with the attitude of the Chinese government.

On October 9, 2006, Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai and van Nipp, visiting foreign minister of Holland, talked about anti-dumping measures taken by the EU to China's footwear products. The EU's anti-dumping measures against China's footwear products lacked the legal basis, damaging the legitimate rights of Chinese leather shoes manufacturers and not meeting the overall and long-term interests of the EU.

The head of the Fair Trade Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce said, "respect and support domestic shoe companies to appeal to the European Court of justice".

The EU ambassador to China SaiRi Amboin said, "China's shoe companies are right to prosecute the EU."

Some Chinese shoe and leather enterprises decided to adopt legal means to express their appreciation and appreciation to the European Union's anti dumping measures against the European Union.

Experience of winning and losing

"Two years' lawsuit has not yet been completed, the tax time may be over," which seems to be a lawsuit without result or doomed to "loss".

Faced with such a problem, Wang Zhentao, vice president of the China Leather Association and President of AOKANG group, admitted that if we simply acquiesced and forbear, two years later, we might face a higher amount of anti-dumping duties, and they might be postponed for 5 years. At that time, Chinese shoe companies were faced with difficulties in the European market. Therefore, the lawsuit brought to the European Union Court is to let the EU countries hear the voice of Chinese shoe enterprises' defense, so that other countries in the world can also hear the voice of Chinese private enterprises.

Facts have also proved that the European Union's anti-dumping action on China's footwear industry has "hit the nail on the head". In the second months when the EU imposed 16.5% anti-dumping duty on China's leather shoes, Wenzhou exported 430 pairs of leather shoes products to the EU, 2 million 437 thousand and 800 pairs and 21 million 470 thousand and 900 US exports, down 32.71%, 37.80% and 19.80% respectively compared with the same period last year.

Since the fourth quarter of last year, many small and medium shoe enterprises have already received no orders.

Wang Zhentao stressed: "we are not fighting for a lawsuit for any enterprise, but for the whole Chinese shoe making industry and China's millions of shoemaking workers. This is for the future of China's footwear industry."

Su Chaoying, Secretary General of the China Leather Industry Association, said, "although the anti-dumping suits are time-consuming and energy consuming, the four Chinese private shoe enterprises need not only wait for two years, but each company still needs to pay more than 2 million yuan in litigation costs, but learn a lot from it.

For China's shoemaking industry, this lawsuit is a victory even if it loses.

This anti-dumping pressure will not come to the EU, and other countries will come. After all, we have a relatively short time to join the WTO and do not understand the rules of the international game very much.

If we lose this time, we will at least know how to deal with the next other countries. "

Long term strategy is united.

With the huge increase of China's foreign trade volume, various trade frictions against Chinese products, such as anti-dumping, countervailing and technical barriers, are also accompanied. And China's accession to the WTO has gone through the final pition period. In the past, the direct protection of the government to enterprises will also be gradually confined to the rules of WTO.

Using legal means to settle international disputes will be the only way for Chinese enterprises to strive for equal rights and interests.

"Anti dumping is inevitable. Only discontent is useless. We need to take the initiative to deal with it positively." this is a problem that China's footwear industry must know when it moves to the international market.

"In the face of trade barriers, only joint will have a way out. Only cooperation can develop. In the face of more and more anti-dumping pressures, shoemaking enterprises should establish an organization that should jointly deal with international trade barriers, share information and share funds and jointly express their legitimate demands". Four enterprises also issued the Beijing Joint Declaration on trade barriers to Chinese footwear enterprises in January 8th, strongly advocated the use of legal means to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of China's footwear industry in the international market, and actively sought and strived for the market position and interests of the Chinese footwear industry under the WTO rules.

Four enterprises said that the anti-dumping lawsuit of Chinese footwear industry should be shifted from "single soldier assault" to "cooperative operation", and appealed to other more than 1000 Chinese shoe enterprises that were imposed anti-dumping duties to jointly safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

In addition, the prosecution of others does not mean that they do not reflect on their own. Su Chaoying said that we should soberly observe the problems we face and face, such as large capacity, low value-added products, and lack of well-known brands that are known internationally. If we do not change the growth mode, we will encounter more trade frictions if we do not get out of the road of small profits but quick turnover.

Therefore, for our shoe-making enterprises, strengthening brand building and promoting industrial upgrading is the key.