EU LIFTS CHINESE TEXTILE QUOTAS

by Secretary-general Mr. J.W.B. Baron van Till:

EU Trade Commissioner Mr. Peter Mandelson has announced that quotas, imposed on ten (10) Chinese textile products in June 2005 and due to expire at the end of 2007, will not be prolonged and would instead be replaced by a monitoring system.

Mr. Mandelson was quoted saying: “I welcome this further step in the cooperation between the EU and China in ensuring a smooth transition to free trade in textiles”.

Mr. Mandelson furthermore said that the quotas had given European industry sufficient “breathing space” to adapt and restructure. He therefore called on Europe’s textile and clothing manufactures to resist the temptation to request new safeguard measures and to react to China’s mass production competition by being “smarter and more creative”.