The European Union moved closer to new rules to protect its manufacturers from cheaper Asian imports on Wednesday when a committee backed plans to label products from outside the bloc by their country of origin. Imported shoes, clothes, leather, furniture, ceramics and high-tech steel products worth billions of euros will have to carry a label that shows where they were made when sold in the EU, according to a committee vote by the European Parliament.
"European consumers want to know what they are buying, where it is coming from and under which conditions (such as respect for the environment, human and social rights) the product was made," the Parliament's Socialists and Democrats group said in a statement following the vote.
The vote, cast by 23 lawmakers in a specialist trade committee, opens the way for negotiations between EU lawmakers and national diplomats on full legislation. The negotiations are expected to be lengthy and highlight divisions among EU lawmakers and member states, pitting representatives of countries that have large manufacturing bases against those that mainly import and distribute foreign goods.