Retaliation measures. China announced on Sunday, July 6, which excluded companies from the European Union of large public commands of medical teams, agreements presented as “reciprocal” after restrictions similar to Chinese companies in the EU.
The measurement refers to a wide variety of products, devices and pieces of prostheses, medical machines, including surgical instruments, endoscopes or artificial organs.
“For medical devices (…) whose purchase budget exceeds 45 million yuan (5.3 million euros) (…) the participation of European Union companies (excluding companies with European capital located in China) will have to be excluded,” said the Chinese finances ministry in a press release.
Another restriction: In non -European companies, the proportion of EU imported products cannot exceed 50% of the total contract amount.
Cascade replicas
These measures, which must go into force on Sunday, follow similar measures against Chinese companies announced on June 20 by the European Commission. Brussels had decided to exclude Chinese companies from public orders from medical equipment exceeding 5 million euros. A measure already presented in response “proportional to the obstacles generated by China.”
The European Commission said he had made this decision by encouraging China to “end their discrimination against medical devices manufactured in the EU.”
In a statement, a spokesman for another Chinese ministry, that of commerce, explained Beijing’s motivations on Sunday to impose these retaliation measures.
“It is unfortunate that, despite the goodwill and sincerity manifested by China, the European part wishes to persist on this path, taking restrictive measures and erecting new protectionist barriers. Therefore, China is forced to take reciprocal restriction measures.”
Tolerated exceptions
However, the exceptions were announced on Sunday by the Ministry of Finance of China.
Reprisal measures “do not apply to projects for which only the medical devices imported from the European Union can meet the purchase needs,” he said.
The calls of tenders whose awards notice or the result have already been made public are not affected by the restrictions, he also emphasized.
Multiple commercial blur
China and the EU must celebrate a summit this month in Beijing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.
But conflicts have multiplied for three years between Brussels and Beijing in different economic sectors: electric cars, railway industry, solar and wind energy.
The EU has decided to address the tone in recent years by having a vast legislative arsenal to better defend its companies with unfair competition.
The commission had opened an investigation in April 2024 in Chinese public markets of medical devices, the first in the context of a new mechanism from which the EU has established in 2022 to obtain access to foreign public procurement.
The European Union estimates that its public tenders are 95% open to the competence of the rest of the world, while European companies almost do not have access to Chinese public contracts.
Source: BFM TV
