Brussels, 26/08/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 26 August, the European Commission announced that it has not ruled out continuing negotiations in Beijing into the weekend (between DG Trade experts and officials from the Chinese trade ministry) to seek a solution to the Chinese clothing crisis blocked at customs in the EU because the relevant quotas have been reached (exceeded in some cases) (see EUROPE 9012 and 9013). A Commission spokesperson explained that the discussions were constructive but were still at a technical stage. She added that it had not been ruled out that the discussions, headed by Fritz-Harald Wenig for the Commission and Lu Jianhua for China) would continue into Saturday. She explained that the Commission would reflect on the conclusions and present them to Member States, who would decide whether or not to accept them.
The Foreign Trade Association (FTA) explains in a press release that it is pleased to see that Commissioner Mandelson 'has finally admitted there was a 'serious glitch' in the implementation of the Shanghai Agreement and welcomes his recognition of the problems facing EU importers.' The FTA regrets that Mr Mandelson refused to meet with the FTA and EU retailers before negotiating the Shanghai Agreement in June with his Chinese counterpart, Bo Xilai. The FTA 'is of the opinion that the only acceptable and fair solution is to release all goods ordered before 12 July when the Shanghai Agreement came into force without affecting the quota levels accordingly. We are therefore very concerned that the Commission seems to be considering the release of goods held at customs by transferring a proportion of the quotas for 2006. This would most likely result in a repeat of the current problem next year as many EU retailers have already placed orders for 2006. To prevent a shortfall occurring a second time this year, the levels for 2006 and 2007 should be combined and retailers given the flexibility to transfer a proportion from that total to the total for 2005.'