Poland’s ministry of industry has said it will maintain the system of duties on imports of Chinese footwear until the end of 2005. The fees gained strong support from domestic footwear manufacturers and the Polish Chamber of Shoe and Leather Industry (PCSLI) when they were first introduced in 1999.

At the time of their introduction, the duties were scheduled to run for two years until December 2001, but this deadline was then moved to January 15, 2002 before the decision was finally taken for a long-term extension. The levels of duty on footwear sourced from mainland China will range from between Eur0.90 ($0.80) to Eur2.4 ($2.12) in 2002, depending on materials used, and will steadily decrease to Eur0.36 to Eur0.96 in 2005.

News of the extension caused widespread indignation among Polish importers but Mr Karsz, chief of protective procedures at the ministry of industry defended the measures, claiming they had produced the intended results. Mr Karsz said that between 1998 and 2000 imports from China fell considerably from 79,8 million to only 2,2 million pairs. He also added that the Polish government should act to give domestic producers breathing space and the opportunity to restructure their industry.