Chinese alarm: the position of Cirillo Marcolin, president of Anfao
In the extensive debate now taking place on how to protect Made in Italy products and the fight against fakes sparked off by statements made by Umberto Bossi and seconded by the Minister for the Economy, Giulio Tremonti, the president of the national Chamber of fashion, Mario Boselli, and the vice-minister for production activities and plenipotentiary for foreign trade, Adolfo Urso, the president of Anfao, Cirillo Coffen Marcolin, reiterated the official position of the producers' association and the requests that have been put forward on several occasions in the past.
In an interview in Corriere Economia, Marcolin stated: 'Why is it that an Italian eyewear producer has to pay duty on exports to America or to other countries outside the EU, when our domestic market allows the entry not only of low-quality products, but very often of counterfeit products, which is particularly serious because of the health risk from fake lenses?'.
'It would be better', Marcolin underscored, 'if there wasn't any duty, but as this is not the case, why doesn't Italy also take steps to ensure greater protection at the borders. We're not asking that the free circulation of goods should be curbed by applying protectionist barriers, but that China should be made to respect the commitment it made when it entered the WTO. Measures must be investigated, especially at European level. Unfortunately', he concluded, 'the phenomenon isn't being stopped, on the contrary, it is becoming even more serious because it is linked to the phenomenon of brand counterfeiting. The Chinese have even invented the CE symbol, which doesn't stand for European Community, but China Export'.
With regard to this, Boselli asked for a European mobilization that would lead to the creation of specialist groups divided by product sectors or by macro-sectors, which would look into the phenomena of social and ecological dumping beforehand and apply targeted duties. He will present the proposal to the committee of the Chamber of fashion.
Adolfo Urso, who has the same opinion as Marcolin about customs duties (it is a mistake to consider raising customs duties in Italy, but it will be important to lower the customers tariffs that hamper European exports), will be presenting a package of various political, diplomatic and legislative initiatives at the WTO summit at Cancun, Mexico, from September 10 through 15. 'The starting point is a known fact: Italian goods are the most imitated and counterfeited in the world', Urso stated in an interview in Panorama. 'Italy is such a synonym for quality that it's sufficient for an Italian name or the tricolor flag to appear on the packaging and the consumer will pay from 30 to 70% more. In July the EU accepted the Italian proposal to make the place of origin an obligatory symbol. For Europe, made in the EU. [...] In view of this change in financial legislation, or in an associated measure, we must ensure that alongside the obligatory EU symbol, companies that produce in Italy can, if they wish, add the word Italy'. In the same way, 'the made in China symbol will be obligatory for Chinese goods. This will simplify quality and product safety controls'. Urso then spoke about supporting innovation: the renewal of sample collections in the textile and fashion sector must be considered in the same way as technological innovation and must therefore be sustainable through public financing. The vice-minister's proposal for 2004 is the allocation of at least twenty million euros.
The current debate was sparked off by statements made by Lega Nord leader and the Minister for Institutional Reform Umberto Bossi who, at his traditional August 15 rally at Ponte di Legno, suggested there should be greater protectionism to safeguard Italian companies against Chinese competition.
In the article in Panorama, Giulio Tremonti stated that he hoped Europe would take the same stance as the United States by protecting its domestic market and national production also through the use of indirect tools, such as food, health, environmental and social protection controls on products arriving from the Far East.
