Chinese goods about to be unblocked

Maltese customs authorities will tomorrow start issuing import licences for the more than 37,000 Chinese clothing items blocked at Maltese ports since June.

The European Commission yesterday adopted by written procedure a regulation providing the legal grounds for member states to begin issuing import licenses.

The regulation will be published in the official journal of the EU today and will come into force tomorrow, giving member states the legal grounds to issue import licences.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, who negotiated the conditions for the release of the products with the Chinese and member states, said in a statement that he was pleased that the EU and China had been able to resolve the problem with the implementation of the Textiles Agreement in a way that preserved it without unfairly penalising retailers and importers.

It is estimated that about 87 million garments, including sweaters, trousers, blouses, T-shirts, bras and tons of flax yarn, are being held in European ports because they had exceeded an EU quota on Chinese textiles imposed in June to protect European manufacturers.

The backlog stemmed from goods that were already in transit when the June accord was struck, but also from a surge in orders immediately after the deal was announced.

According to the new EU regulations, the import levels have been modified to provide sufficient amounts to enable the import of all the blocked quantities. Half of this amount will be unblocked through flexibilities agreed with China and the other half by a unilateral increase of the import levels on the European side.

The Commission said that in order to avoid any possible further problems of blockages this year, a number of measures have been taken including a revision of existing deadlines for importers.

The deadline for importers to request the issue of import licences for goods shipped from China has been extended to September 20 from July 20. This should allow parties to have the clearest possible picture of the number of license applications pending. After that date, no such requests will be considered.

Since June no new import licences for Chinese textiles have been issued by the Maltese authorities.