A Chinese footwear manufacturer has begun legal action challenging the European Union’s import tariffs on Chinese shoes in the first case of its kind since the EU approved the controversial measure earlier this month.

Sources in Brussels said Aokang Group, China’s largest privately owned shoemaker, has instructed lawyers to prepare a case against the EU claiming the levies break the bloc’s own trade laws.

China’s shoe manufacturers, backed by the country’s Ministry of Commerce, have been threatening to sue the EU since it approved the 16.5 per cent tariff on Chinese leather shoes on October 5.

Lourdes Catrain, an EU and trade lawyer at Hogan & Hartson, said she expects other Chinese shoe manufacturers to follow Aokang’s lead.

Aokang, based in Wenzou, in eastern China, could not be reached for comment.

More than 10 per cent of the 1.25 billion pairs of Chinese shoes exported to the EU each year will be affected by the tariffs and the Ministry of Commerce claims that over 1,000 businesses will be forced to close as a result.

Under EU rules, interested parties have until the end of the year to file lawsuits challenging the tariffs, which will run for two years and also apply to shoes from Vietnam at the lower rate of 10 per cent.

The debate over whether the levies should be approved exposed rifts between EU members including France and Italy, which want to protect their domestic shoes industries from cheap imports, and other countries, including Sweden and Denmark, wishing to take advantage of low-cost imports.

The tariffs have also come under attack from the European shoe industry. Earlier this month the Footwear Association of Importers and Retail Chains said it was looking into the possibility of launching its own case against the EU although it has yet to take any formal action.

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