And the union will collect punitive duties of up to 23 per cent for leather shoes from China and 29.5 for Vietnamese shoes, sold over the annual quotas.

"We have already submitted our opinion on the final ruling," Wu said in a telephone interview yesterday.

He said the proposal indicated the EU's attempt to re-introduce quotas for shoe imports, which were eliminated among World Trade Organization members at the beginning of last year, and violated free trade rules.

The proposal has aroused great concerns in China's shoe-making industry.

Yu Shengxing, a lawyer who represents Chinese firms in the case, said he was worried the proposal would drive Chinese exporters into a price war.

He said with EU importers only allowed a limited number of imports every year, Chinese firms would be forced to slash prices to win contracts.

The European Commission is expected to publish its official final rulings before October 6 after a vote of member states. The quota-based system is likely to take effect before next April.

Worried about increasing footwear imports from China flooding its markets and hurting local shoe-makers, the European economic bloc launched a dumping charge against Chinese leather shoe makers last July.

The EU is now phasing in anti-dumping duties, which will be increased up to 19.4 per cent by October, on Chinese leather shoes.

China exported 6.9 billion pairs of shoes to Europe last year.

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