EU court rules on anti-dumping law

Workers at Dong An Economic Investment and Development Company in Hanoi make shoes for export (Source :VNA/VNS)

 Hanoi (VNA) — The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) declared partially invalid an anti-dumping regulation on certain leather footwear imports to the EU from China and Vietnam.

It said the Council of the EU and the EU Commission did not comply with certain procedural rules when the regulation was adopted.

On October 5, 2006, the Council of the EU adopted a regulation imposing an anti-dumping duty on certain leather footwear imported from China and Vietnam into the EU. The rate of the anti-dumping duty was set at 16.5 percent for footwear manufactured by companies established in China (with the exception of the company Golden Step, whose anti-dumping duty was set at 9.7 percent) and at 10 percent for footwear manufactured by companies established in Vietnam.

In 2010 and 2012, Puma, a German sports goods company, requested the Principal Customs Office, Nuremberg in Germany repayment of the anti-dumping duty with respect to importation of the same goods, again on the basis that the regulation was invalid. The sum concerned amounted to approximately 5.1 million EUR (5.6 million USD). When its request was rejected, Puma brought an action before the Finance Court, Munich.

Both national courts had doubts to the regulation's validity and therefore decided to seek a ruling from the Court of Justice.-VNA