About 200 pairs of shoes imported from the European Union (EU) have been burned in Hangzhou, eastern China's Zhejiang Province, after the local market watchdog said they'd failed quality checks. 

The shoes destroyed made up nearly 70 percent of the imports inspected by the Zhejiang Industrial and Commercial Administration in the third quarter. However, no figures giving the total number of EU shoes imported to China were released.

The biggest ever campaign to recover substandard shoes from the market, involving well-known brand names like Strada, Clarks, D&G, Trussardi and Boomerang, appears to coincide with local  manufacturers bearing the initial brunt of the EU anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese shoe exports.

Zhejiang, a major shoe production base in China, saw its EU exports plummet to a record low for the year of 180 million pairs in October. This is down 66.4 percent over the same period of last year. The anti-dumping duty of 16.5 percent imposed by the EU on October 7 will be in place for two years.

Pan Wei, who's in charge of a consumer complaints hotline in Zhejiang, said many of the shoes failed quality inspections because of the stiffness of the insoles and the rigidity of the uppers. "By wearing footwear with these flaws consumers are more susceptible to falling or spraining their ankles," Pan said.

The imported shoes were priced between 1,500 yuan (US$190) to 2,500 yuan (US$320) on average. This is three times more than those locally manufactured.  

Zhong Hongsheng, director of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Research Institute of Zhejiang Wanli Business School, said destroying EU imports that didn't pass quality inspection complied with WTO rules. "As the world economy becomes increasingly integrated, consumers should no longer blindly follow foreign brand names," he said.

Buying foreign, especially high fashion, products has evolved into a growing trend among China's expanding middle class. Almost all world famous brand names such as Gucci and Prada have set up franchise stores.

EU shoes have long been viewed as the pinnacle of fine quality so news of their destruction in Zhejiang has sparked debate among Chinese consumers.

In a chat-room of netease.com, more than 350 comments have been made. One netizen asked why local authorities had destroyed the shoes. "Why didn't they allow import firms to ask for refunds? Who paid for their losses?" Another comment reads, "Well done. Crack down on lawbreaking merchants."

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2006)