In the exclusion of Chinese companies from Public Medical Orders worth 5m euros, it has decided to proceed with European Unionin response to the restrictions imposed on European companies on its market China.
Immediately China spoke of “two meters and two weights”. The measure concerns a wide range of health care supplies, from masks and bandages to machinery and robots, representing a € 150 billion market in the EU.
“The purpose of the measure is to encourage China to cease to discriminate at the expense of medical devices manufactured in the EU,” the committee said in a statement.
The confrontation between Brussels and Beijing has intensified over the last three years in various economic sectors: electric cars, railway industry, solar panels and wind turbines.
This decision of the Commission was made amid commercial tensions with US President Donald Trump, who has imposed duties on product imports from almost around the world, including the EU.
The EU has decided to harden its stance in recent years, adopting legislation to better protect its companies from unfair competition.
The European Union estimates that its public procurement is 95% open to competition from the rest of the world, while European companies have almost no access to Chinese public procurement markets.
On the contrary, China accuses Brussels of protectionism.
After a year of fruitless negotiations, the Commission decided to act.
“Our goal is to ensure equal competition conditions for EU businesses. We remain committed to China’s dialogue to solve these problems,” European Commissioner Maros Shefkovic assured.
“The EU is systematically presented as the most open market in the world, but in fact it moves step by step towards protectionism,” Guo Ziakun, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, reacted.
“Acting in the name of fair competition while engaging in unfair competition is a typical example of two meters and two stations,” he added.
The EU stresses that its answer is “proportional” to the obstacles raised in China.
The European Commission also points out that the measure, which will enter into force in ten days, will not affect imports that are not made through public contracts.
It also argues that the measure will not cause shortages, given the large number of suppliers available worldwide.
There are even exceptions in cases where there are no alternatives to Chinese suppliers.
The € 5m limit covers 60% of the European Medical Products market, and excludes small hospitals with limited markets that thus avoid additional costs.