With a high proportion of promotional merchandise being manufactured overseas, promoters need to be aware of plans which may impact on import tariffs.

EU trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, has shelved plans to introduce a reform of the EU’s trade defence policy. He says member states are too divided on how to respond to cheap imports from countries such as China.

The Commissioner has delayed a major proposal to overhaul the EU’s anti-dumping rules, which was originally to be released this month. Anti-dumping duties can be imposed by the Commission to protect European firms from foreign competitors dumping goods on the EU market at below-cost prices.

Peter Mandelson believes a reform of anti-dumping rules is necessary in the face of growing production by EU companies in economies such as China, which means that tariffs put in place by Brussels on products from non European countries, are increasingly hitting EU firms that have moved production abroad.

The problem as Peter Mandelson sees it, is that EU member states are deeply divided over tariff issues, and while this remains the case he does not want to embark upon a complete overhaul of the anti-dumping rules.

Member states with strong manufacturing and industrial bases such as Germany, France, and Italy are against the states whose manufacturers have outsourced production to Asia, amongst them, the UK, the Netherlands, and the Nordic states.

As an example of the dilemma last summer, the Commission extended the import duties on environment-friendly light bulbs made in China after pressure from the German firm Osram, which produces most of its bulbs in Europe, while Dutch firm Philips, which manufactures large quantities of bulbs in China, had lobbied for a termination of the duties.

In 2006, the EU’s shoe producing countries won a battle for a two year anti-dumping regime against imports of footwear from Asia, despite opposition by free trade states with large retail sectors, such as the UK and Sweden. Clearly the conflicts on EU decisions on anti-dumping will continue until member states grasp the implications of certain protectionist practices and fully commit to the Lisbon Agenda.