Speaking to the press, the deputy minister affirmed that in the footwear sector, most of the workforce are women who earn low incomes.

This decision will create more serious economic consequences for the country as the EU has levied an anti-dumping tariff on Vietnam’s leather shoe exports, Mr Bien said.

He also said the decision would affect not only Vietnam but also EU businesses working in the country and EU consumers who have the right to purchase quality products at reasonable prices.

“We are totally disappointed with the EC’s decision because Vietnam is a developing country with an annual income per capita below US$1,000 and now its footwear industry is unable to continue enjoying the EU’s preferential treatment,” Mr Bien said.

The EC stated that any country whose exports of a group of products exceed 15 percent of the EU’s total imports of the same products under the GSP over three consecutive years is considered to have reached a certain level of competitiveness and doesn’t need preferential tariffs. Subsequently, the EC intends to remove Vietnamese footwear from the GSP list from 2009 to 2011.

However, the country can continue to enjoy the GSP if its export revenues make up more than 50 percent of its export revenues benefiting from GSP. Mr Bien argued that the EU has made a mistake in its figures, which show that Vietnam’s footwear exports to the EU were below 50 percent of the country’s exports covered by the GSP.

He added that many EU member countries have disagreed with the EU’s calculations and some have suggested solutions to the problem but the EC has not accepted them.