Retailers on Tuesday demanded swift action from the European Union to address a backlog of Chinese clothes imports piling up unsold in EU warehouses.

With the busy autumn-winter season approaching, millions of imported Chinese sweaters, trousers and blouses are being held back from Europe’s shoppers because quotas set for this year have already been breached.

The 25-nation bloc is split on how to deal with the problem, with EU trade chief Peter Mandelson torn between protecting home-grown textiles industries from Chinese competition, while ensuring retailers have access to hotly-demanded imports.

“We need a solution that would allow retailers and importers to be able to import as soon as possible the merchandise which is waiting at the borders right now,” said Ralph Kamphoener, senior adviser to the EU retail lobby group Eurocommerce.

Kamphoener said the bloc’s leading retail associations were meeting in Brussels to agree demands to Mandelson before an EU team of experts travel to Beijing to discuss the matter with Chinese authorities. “It is an urgent matter. It is very important to come up with one suggestion from our side and that is what will happen this afternoon,” he said .

The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland have warned there was a risk of job losses and bankruptcies among retailers unless the EU eases the curbs on Chinese clothing imports.

Germany’s Economy Minister, Wolfgang Clement, has urged the EU to allow existing orders for clothing imports to be honoured even if they breached quotas. Some retailers have talked of taking the EU to court over the matter.

But Mandelson faces equal pressure from countries with big national textile industries – like France, Italy and Spain – who fear they will suffer if Chinese clothing enters EU markets on a massive scale.

The crisis has been a ticking time-bomb since a long-standing quota system expired on Jan. 1, triggering a surge in chinese imports in the first months of this year.

That prompted Brussels and Beijing to agree new import curbs in June to slow soaring Chinese clothing imports entering the EU. But the quotas were quickly reached – starting with sweaters – as importers bought for the autumn-winter season.

Bras, blouses and flax yarn have all been restricted from entering the bloc after they breached their 2005 quota limits. An EU imports database showed that the quota for T-shirts had also been filled.

Mandelson wants to negotiate with China to allow more imports, possibly by using some of 2006 quotas this year.

The issue is likely to come to a head tomorrow as trade experts from all the EU’s 25 members meet, pitting countries with influential retail industries against those with important textile industries.