The decision to impose anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese leather-upper shoes exported to the European Union (EU) market is unfair and runs counter the free trade policy initiated by the European Commission (EC), said a spokesman of Vietnamese Foreign Ministry on Friday.

The imposition of anti-dumping duties only aims to protect interests of some unqualified producers in the Europe while causing losses for majority of consumers and retailers, spokesman Le Dung said.

Vietnamese footwear enterprises do not sell their products to the EU at dumping prices, he said, expressing his hope that the EC will soon reconsider the decision and eliminate it for benefits of European consumers and Vietnamese workers.

The EU on Thursday formally adopted definitive anti-dumping measures on leather shoe imports from China and Vietnam. Punitive duties of 16.5 percent and 10 percent, applicable for two years, will be imposed on Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes respectively from Saturday when the provisional duties expire.

Children's shoes, which were not covered by the provisional anti-dumping duties introduced since April 7, are now subject to the definitive duties. In April, the EU imposed provisional tariffs of 19.4 percent on leather shoes from China and 16.8 percent on those from Vietnam, which were phased in over six months.

Vietnam exported 265 million pairs of shoes of different kinds to the EU last year, according to data recently released by the EC.

Source: Xinhua