Italian footwear sector and ‘Made in Italy’ goods: manufacturers' associations call for mandatory indication of origin to protect Italian excellence

13.6.2017

Question for written answer E-003938-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Mara Bizzotto (ENF)

The Italian footwear industry is a sector of excellence. Comprising 5 000 companies, mainly SMEs, and 77 000 employees, it exports 85% of output with an annual turnover of almost EUR 14 billion. However the whole sector is going through an extremely severe economic crisis which has led to the closure of 150 businesses in the past two years with the loss of 8 500 jobs.

The main factors contributing to the crisis in the footwear sector are the effects of economic sanctions against Russia, as this is one of the chief export markets for ‘Made in Italy’ goods. Manufacturers associations such as ‘Assocalzaturifici’ are therefore calling for an immediate end to the sanctions regime imposed on Moscow.

Italian manufacturers believe that the best way of protecting their goods against the rise in counterfeiting would be to introduce a mandatory ‘Made in Italy’ indication of origin, while Assocalzaturifici is calling for anti-dumping measures against China to be maintained to protect Italian and EU goods in the single market. The footwear sector is one of the EU’s key manufacturing sectors and Italy is the foremost manufacturer of footwear in the EU.

— In view of the above, will the Commission seek to protect this important EU industry by listening to the requests from Italian manufacturers in the footwear sector?— What action it has taken in support of those entrepreneurs and employees in the footwear sector who have lost their jobs because of the crisis?