Ministry to curb illegal textiles trade (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-07-13 11:22
The Ministry of Commerce has issued a circular to alert domestic companies to
the pitfalls of exporting textile products to the United States and the European
Union using fake certificates of origin.
Under last year's Sino-US and
Sino-EU memorandums on textile trade, the agreed trade volume for the following
year will be slashed to penalize the whole industry if these illegal practices
are carried out.
Sun Kaifen, from the Commerce Department of north
China's Hebei Province, said that the ministry has ordered local departments to
inspect companies and submit a report around mid-July.
The ministry will
punish companies and individuals concerned strictly in line with the law, Sun
said.
Since the EU and US imposed textile export quotas on China last
year, the country's textile exports to these two economies have been slowing
down and shifting to neighbouring countries and regions.
Hong Kong and
the Republic of Korea, for instance, have registered year-on-year growth of 234
percent and 150 percent respectively in their textile exports to the EU between
January and May. The customs authorities of some EU members said this rapid
growth could be a sign of malpractice.
Customs statistics from China
showed that over the first five months, a number of provinces including
Guangdong, Hebei and Zhejiang have increased their textile exports to Myanmar,
Vietnam, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Pakistan.
Zhao
Yumin, director of the International Market Department of the Research Institute
for International Trade and Economic Cooperation, attributed the illegal trade
to the import restrictions of EU and United States which singles out China.
She said that the motivation of domestic companies for conducting
illegal trade was stoked up by the decrease in import demands of foreign
countries and the smooth transfer of information, capital and commodities under
economic globalization.
Zhao said that this phenomenon proves how costly
it is to implement an agreement against the trend of free trade.
So far,
the EU has imposed import restrictions on ten categories of textile products
made in China while the United States has restricted the import of 21 categories
of textile products from the country. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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