EU formally adopts anti-dumping measures against China, Vietnam

European Union interior ministers formally adopted new measures Thursday to combat an influx of leather shoes in the EU from China and Vietnam.

Meeting in Luxembourg, the ministers rubber-stamped a vote taken Wednesday, in which the narrowest possible majority of 13 of the Union's 25 states voted to impose the anti-dumping sanctions.

The new measures are due to run for two years and will come into force on October 7.

They involve imposing import duties of 16.5 percent on Chinese shoes with leather uppers in place of the current temporary duty of 19.4 percent.

The tariff on the same kind of shoes from Vietnam will be 10 percent in place of the temporary duty of 16.8 percent.

Last year China exported 1.2 billion pairs of shoes to EU countries, 145 million of which were hit by the provisional anti-dumping measures. For Vietnam the EU import figure was 265 million pairs, 80 million of which were affected.