ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(78)108
Vol.1978/0036

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(78)108final
Brussels,13Xarch1978
COKXUNICATIONOFTHECOMMISSION TOTHECOUNCIL
CONCEDING IMPORTSINTOIRELANDOPRUBBERFOOTWEAR,LEATHER
FOOTWEAR ANDOFFOOTWEAR OTHERTHANOFLEATHER
COK(78)108final

1.TheIrishauthorities,bytheirtelexof7February1978,informed
theCommission oftheirintentiontoestablishimportrestrictions on
leatherfootwear(CCTheading64.02A)fromPolandandonrubberfootwear
fromHongKong(CCTheading64.01).
Thesenotifications weremade,inthecaseofPolandonthebasis
ofArticle3oftheDecisionoftheCouncilof27March1975^^relating
toautonomous importsystemswithregardtostatetradingcountries
(2)(75/210/EEC>andinthecaseofHongKong'onthebasisoftheDecision
of19December1972*^*layingdowncertaintransactional measuresforthe
progressive standardization oftheImporttermsofMemberStatesas
regardsthirdcountries.
AttherequestoftheCommission andaMemberState,consultations
havebeenheldwithintheCommittees providedforbytheseDecisions.
Duringthecourseofthisconsultation theIrishdelegationindicated
thatthisactionwasjustifiedbytherapidIncrease1nthepenetration
ofimportsoftheproductsinquestionontheIrishmarket,thisincrease
havingprovokedmarketdisruption.
TheCommission andtheotherMemberStatesraisedobjectionstothese
requestsbothforrubberfootwearfromHongKongandforleatherfootwear
fromPoland.
Ineffect,itappearsdifficulttoImaginethatineithercasethese
importscouldhavecauseddisruption ontheIrishmarket.
(1)IrelandalsoaskedtheCommissionfortheimpositionofimportrestrictions
onleatherfootwearfromSpain,SouthKoreaandIndiaonthebasisof
Regulation No.1439/74oncommonrulesforImports.Thisrequest .h^sled
toaCommission DecisionnottoImposetherestrictions .
(2)O.J.No.L99/77of21.4.1975
(3)O.J.No.L299/46of31.12.72.

2
Rubberfootwear
ImportsofrubbershoesfromHongKongin1977nmountedto55,000pairs,i
1whichrepresent :
-36.9%ofIrishimportsofrubberfootwearfromthirdcountries
-3.52ofIrishimportsofrubberfootwearofallorigins ,
-0.77%ofIrishimportsofallfootwearofallregions
-1.1%ofIrishproduction (allfootwear)
-2.1%oftotalexports
-0.57%ofconsumption .
Leatherfootwear
InthecaseofimportsofleathershoesfromPoland(50,500pairsin
1977)thepercentages areasfollows
-14.9%ofIrishimportsofleatherfootwearfromthirdcountries
1.6%ofIrishimportsofleatherfootwearofallregions
0.7%ofIrishimportsofallproduceofallorigins
-3.1%ofimportslf •
-1.0%ofproductif ) '
-1.9%ofexports I
-0.52%ofconsumption.""■ •
(1)Importsfrom 1975 <197Å 1977
HongKong ! '?
(1,000pairs) 23.3 67.5 55
(2)Importsfrom 36.4 23.1 50.5
Poland
(1,000pairs)

!
-3-
Inadditionthesituationofmarketdisruption advancedbythe
Irishauthorities appearstobedebatable.In1977production increased
siightLycomparedwith1976fromA.9millionpairsto5.0millions.Certainly,it
didnotreachits1974level(?.5millionpairs)butthesignsarethat
recoveryistakingplace.Employment hasfollowedasimilartrend:in1976
3,400personswereemployedand3,600in1977<4,500in1974).Exportshave
alsoshownsignsofrecovery:2.3millionpairsin1976,2.6millionpairsin
1977(3.6millionpairsin1974).
77%oftotalIrishimportsofallfootwearconsistedofintra-Community
imports(forrubberandleathershoes,thepercentageisapproximately 90%).
Theimpactoftheimportsfromthirdcountriescould,thus,onlybemodest.
«
Until31December1977,Irelandbenefitedfromprotective measures
onleatherfootwearunderArticle135oftheTreatyofAccessionmaintainng
dutiesof9%againsttheUnitedKingdom,18.5%againstotherMemberStates
and23%withregardtothirdcountries.TheprovisionsofArticle135
expiredon31December1977andthesemeasuresofderogation havebeen
abolished.

ThisindicatesthatiftheIrishfootwearindustryhasencountered
difficulties /thesedifficulties werecausedbyinternalproblemsinthe
Community/problemswhichwillnotberesolvedbyprotective measurestaken
againstthirdcountrieswhosedeliveriestoIrelandremainmodest.
TheCommission consider6/therefore/thatthesituationofmarket
disorganisation bytheproductsinquestionisnotproved.Itconsiders
thatinviewofthisfactIrelandisnotjustified "*0takingquantitative
restrictive measuresagainst:
-rubberfootwearfromHongKong(64.01)
-leatherfootwearfromPoland (64.02A)
Consequently theCommission proposestotheCouncil/byvirtue
ofArticle3oftheDecisionoftheCouncilof19December1972laying
downcertaintransitional measuresforthestandardisation oftheimport
termsofMemberStatesasregardsthirdcountries andofArticle5of
theDecisionoftheCouncilof27March1972relatingtoautonomous
importsystemswithregardtostatetradingcountries/todecidethatthe
measureenvisaged.byIrelandshouldnotbeapplied.
2.Bytelexof7February1978/IrelandalsoinformedtheCommission
ofitsintentiontoimposeimportrestrictions onfootwearotherthan
leatherfootwear(textileorplasticuppersCCTheading64.028)originating
inHongKong/SouthKorea/IndiaandMalaysia.Thelegalbasisofthis
(1)notification istheDecisionof19December layingdowncertaintransitional
measuresfortheprogressive standardisation of^JtheimporttermsofMember
Statesasregardsthirdcountries.
C
WithintheframeworkofthatDecisiontheCommission aswellasa
MemberStaterequested aconsultation/duringthecourseofwhichIreland
justifiedItsactionontheseproductsbytheargumentsalreadyevoked
initem1.
<1)0JNo.L299/46of31.12.1972
»

AlthoughonedelegationobjectedtothemeasuresenvisagedbyIreland/all
thedelegations andtheCommissionindicatedthat,intheiropinionthe
marketsituationinIrelandfortheseproductswasunquestionably morecfifficult
thanthosementionedinitem1.
Ineffect,importsfromthefourcountriesinquestionadded
togetherreached784,500pairsin1977representing :
-74.9%ofIrishimportsoffootwearotherthanleatherfromthird
countries
-32.9%ofIrishimportsoffootwearotherthanleatherofallorigins
-10.9%ofIrishimportsofallfootwearofallorigins
-15.6%ofproduction (allfootwear)
-30.5%ofexports(allfootwear)
-8.1%ofconsumption .
However,thisfootwearwithplasticortextileuppersdoesnotcompete
directlywithIrishproduction whichisnowbasedprincipally onleather
footwear.Moreover,theassessment madeinitem1thatmarketdisruption
isnotprovedcouldalsoapplyinthiscasewhilstrecognising thattheimpact
1Sofimportsofthiscategoryintendingtoincrease.Moreover,thechange­
overtothealmostexclusiveproductionofleathershoeswouldbelikelyto,
makeapositivecontribution tothenormalisation ofthesituation.
TheCommission considers,therefore,thatfortheseproducts,
Iunquestionably importedinmuchgreaterquantitiesthatothertypesof
footwear,thequestionshouldbeexaminedingreaterdepthandonthe
basisofsupplementary statisticsrelatingespeciallytothepricesof
importedproducts,tothesituati°nofIrishfootwearproducers,tothe
degreeofsubstitution oftheirfootwearwiththatproducedinIreland,etc.;
i
Imports(1,000pairs) 1975 1976 1977
HongKong , 43.9 112.1 189
Korea 39.5 179.4 263
India 42.6 102.1 234.1
Malaysia 17.6 73.5 98.4
Total 143.6 467.2 784.1

duringthisexamination,accountshouldalsobetakenofthereorganisation programme
established bytheIrishAuthorities during1976andoftheactionswhichcould
beundertaken onthebasisoftheresultsoftheanalysisbeingcarriedout
bytheCommission onthestructuresoftheCommunityfootwearindustry.
Inaddition,theCommission proposestoapproachcertainexporting
countrieswithaviewtoobtainingassurancesthatexcessproduction,unusedbe­
causeofrestrictive measurestakenonotherimportingmarkets,shouldnot
bedivertedtotheCommunitymarket;theproblemofthedevelopment of
importsoffootwearintoIrelandwillbetakenintoconsideration atthattime.
Consequently ,theCommission considersthatforfootwearotherthan
leatherfootwearunderCCTheading64.02B,theimposition byIreland
ofquantitative restrictions onimportsfromHongKong,India,SouthKorea
andMalaysiacannotbejustifiedontheinformation presentlyavailable.