Brussels, 05/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - The double monitoring system for export licences for shoes from Vietnam entered into force on January 1. The Councils regulations and decisions, enabling the provisional implementation of this anti-fraud system while awaiting the ratification of the legislative texts where published in this years Official Journal N° L1. The European Commission and Vietnam had negotiated an agreement on the prevention of fraud in shoe trade, after having noted the existence of false export certificates. Between 1994 and 1997, certain Chinese, Thai, and Indonesian exporters have, it seems, circumvented the anti-dumping laws on their shoe exports towards Europe by transferring them via Vietnam with false certificates. The effect was immediate: the Vietnamese shoe exports went from 11.2 million pairs in 1992 to 105.5 million in 1997. Spain, especially, insisted for the Commission to introduce a surveillance system on imports from Vietnam, fearing unfair competition on the low end of the shoe market, notably in trainers.