Ibec has strongly criticised the EU's plan to impose a tariff on leather shoes from China and Vietnam as protectionist and anti-consumer.
Ibec said the "anti-dumping duty" proposed by EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson was "bad for Irish consumers, and damaging to the Irish retail sector and the wider Irish economy.
"Commissioner Mandelson's proposal is protectionist and ignores the fact that EU shoe producers are unable to meet market demand. Last year EU consumers purchased two billion pairs of shoes while the total output of EU shoe producers was 700 million pairs," said Ibec's retail director, Torlach Denihan.
Brussels said today it has found evidence of state intervention helping shoemakers in China and Vietnam and will impose duties of 16.8 per cent on shoes from Vietnam and 19.4 per cent from China, to be phased in over five months from April 7th.
Sports shoes and footwear for children will be exempted from the duties.
Mr Denihan pointed out that the price of shoes in Ireland has fallen fell by 38 per cent in the last four years but that EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson says the price of shoes to European consumers has been stable over the last four years.
"This shows how inappropriate his proposal is from an Irish perspective. The retail sector is being penalised when it passes best value on to the Irish consumer," Mr Denihan said.
China and Vietnam have denied the charges of dumping and China said it might consider a complaint to the World Trade Organization, which regulates global trade.
Mr Mandelson today reiterated his willingness to work with both countries "to address the questions of competitive distortions raised by the Commission's investigation.