"It is true that member states ... have not supported two different approaches put forward by the commission to address the issue of injury resulting from the dumping of certain Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes," he said.

Temporary anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese shoes imports are due to expire in October, but member states disagree over whether and how to impose new measures afterwards.

Under the temporary action, Chinese-made shoes with leather uppers are subject to a 19.4 percent import duty while a 16.8 percent duty is levied on Vietnamese shoes.

In mid-July, the commission proposed to set quotas for shoe imports with penalties for shipments above the limits instead of new duties, but a majority of states shot the proposal down.

A group of southern EU countries led by Italy found it too generous while more free-market friendly northern countries judging it too harsh.

The commission's new proposal would have extended duties although at a lower rate and its failure has left the EU's executive arm to study its options.

"Anti-dumping measures are extremely sensitive and member states have different views on the subject," said the spokesman, for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.

"Our job now is to see if there is a way out of this, to take stock of the situation, and hopefully arrive at a situation where we can command majority support for a particular proposal," he went on.

"However there are clearly no guarantees that this is achievable."