Reflection On The Success Of Chinese Shoe Enterprises In Anti Dumping Lawsuits

Made in China shoes For the industry, November 18, 2012 is destined to be an extraordinary day. Zhejiang Aokang Shoes Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Aokang) formally received the judgment of the European Union High Court on the same day, and finally ruled that the European Union Primary Court had improperly used some legal provisions in the hearing of Aokang's defense against EU anti-dumping cases, which was unfair, and finally decided that China Aokang won the lawsuit. This marks that Aokang has won the victory in defending the anti-dumping of EU leather shoes at the legal level.

In October 2006, the European Union decided to impose an anti-dumping duty of 16.5% for two years on Chinese leather shoes.

The EU is the second largest export market of China's shoe industry. In 2005, China exported 980 million pairs of shoes to the EU, amounting to 3.23 billion US dollars, of which 200 million pairs of leather shoes were exported, amounting to 1.31 billion US dollars.

In order to cope with the negative impact of high anti-dumping duties on China's footwear industry, with the strong support of the government and industry associations, Aokang joined forces with Chinese footwear enterprises in Wenzhou, Guangzhou, Fujian and other places to appeal to the European Union's lower court on October 23, 2006. This first instance lawsuit took four years, and five enterprises stood up three times to defend themselves.

In April 2010, the European lower court rejected the claims of five Chinese shoe companies. After losing the first trial, due to the high cost, lack of confidence and other reasons, several other enterprises withdrew one after another. Only Aokang insisted on continuing to defend. Aokang's tenacity and persistence finally ushered in the "bright future" in November this year.

"Aokang won the lawsuit mainly because of the legal technology. When interpreting the controversial terms, the European Ordinary Court supported the defense of the European Council, but in the appeal, the European High Court overturned the determination of the European Ordinary Court." Pu Lingchen, the Chinese lawyer in the case, said.

For this win, Wang Zhentao, the chairman of Aokang, said: "Aokang not only won the lawsuit, but also won the dignity. Looking back now, the EU anti-dumping is also a good thing in a sense. In recent years, the product structure and production technology of Aokang's exports have been greatly improved. The unit price of exported products has exceeded 20 dollars, and even reached 50 dollars at the highest."

"Aokang Shoes has appealed since 2006, and it has used legal means and international rules to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, which has played a very good leading and exemplary role in the industry." China Leatherwear Su Chaoying, chairman of the association, said.

"The shoemaking industry is an export-oriented industry. In the environment where trade frictions tend to be normalized and frequent, enterprises will continue to face the challenge of dealing with trade frictions, and may also be subject to unfair rulings." Su Chaoying said. It is reported that since 2011, Brazil, Mexico and other countries have launched anti-dumping investigations against China. Brazil passed an anti-dumping resolution in July this year, deciding to impose 18.2% anti-dumping surcharge on imported shoes from China.

Talking about the strategies of Chinese shoe enterprises to deal with international trade disputes in the future, Pu Lingchen suggested: "First of all, enterprises should seriously deal with legal issues, respond to international trade disputes by 'multiple legs', and respond in multiple ways and channels to safeguard and strive for their legitimate rights and interests. On the other hand, within the possible and reasonable range, they should respect the seriousness and fairness of justice, and not be eager to use the Chinese inertia thinking to view the western judicial system."

Li Weijuan, president of Zhejiang Leather Industry Association, also pointed out: "Reflecting on the shortcomings of the shoe industry, we must strengthen our internal skills, deeply adjust the export product structure and improve the shoemaking process, enhance the added value of the brand, carry out independent intellectual property construction, change passivity to initiative, and win on strength in the international market. This is China footwear industry The fundamental way to remain invincible in trade disputes. "