Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said the day may well come when so-called "safeguards" have to be imposed on Chinese imports, which preliminary figures show have surged since a decades-old global quotas regime ended on Jan 1.

"But I don't think two months of inadequate data are a good enough basis to take the sort of action you would like to see," he told a member of the European Parliament's trade committee.

"The decision on whether or not to .... impose defensive measures would be a complex one that requires careful analysis of a series of factors, and not one that should be resorted to lightly nor automatically."

European clothing and textiles industry group euratex last week called for steps to stem the "voracious appetite of Chinese exporters," which was hurting its members. That echoed concerns raised in Brussels by both the Italian and French governments.

The United States said last week it would press Beijing to cool its exports after data showed US imports of textiles and clothing from the country jumped some 40 per cent in January from December, and were nearly 30 per cent higher than a year earlier.

The increase followed the end of an international quota system that has long protected American and European textile producers by limiting imports.

China made 17 per cent of the world's textiles and clothing in 2003, but the World Trade Organisation sees that market share rising above 50 percent within the coming three years.

Beijing agreed when it joined the WTO in 2001 to let member countries impose safeguard restrictions limiting growth on its textile and apparel shipments at 7.5 percent from the prior year until 2008. But importing countries have to show "market disruption" to impose such curbs.

The European commission, which conducts trade policy on behalf of the 25-nation EU, says it will publish guidelines which set out clear "danger zones."

"If Chinese import levels in any sector were to reach such danger zones, we would investigate," Mandelson said.

Mandelson said the EU was coordinating with Beijing to ensure a smooth transition from the old system, adding that Chinese ministers had assured him they were aware of the need to put in place licensing and other measures to brake export growth.