The European Commission (EC) is launching an investigation into European medical equipment players' access to the Chinese market. This will examine the extent to which China favours Chinese players in the process.
This has been reported by the Bloomberg news agency, citing sources. The investigation focuses on government contracts for medical equipment in China and the conditions attached to them. The European Commission suspects that the Chinese government is encouraging hospitals in the Asian country to purchase Chinese-made medical equipment. This would give Chinese manufacturers an advantage over foreign competitors.
According to Bloomberg sources, the main aim of the investigation is to start a dialogue with Beijing. In this way, the European Commission wants to achieve a level playing field for all parties.
Limiting access to European tenders
If those talks come to nothing, the commission may choose to restrict China's access to bids concerning medical devices under European legislation on international procurement instruments. This legislation has the aim of promoting reciprocity in access to public procurement markets.
Complaints about foreign parties' access to Chinese tenders have been around for some time. Among other things, parties complain about the obligation to share technology with Chinese parties.
Also investigation into EVs
This is not the only European investigation targeting China. For example, in September 2023, the European Commission launched an investigation into ‘unfair subsidies’ on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs). The European Commission is considering introducing additional duties to ensure a level playing field for all EV manufacturers.
The European Commission announced in March that this investigation had indeed found evidence of subsidies from the Chinese government for Chinese EV manufacturers. It is working on measures to counter unfair competition as much as possible. This would be done in three ways: making funds or goods directly available to the companies, not collecting revenue like taxes and providing goods or services at unrealistically low costs.
Research into wind turbines
The European Commission has also launched an investigation into Chinese wind turbines, it was announced earlier this month. For instance, Chinese-made wind turbines are easily 20% cheaper than European and US counterparts, reports research firm BloombergNEF. Between 2009 and 2021, Chinese manufacturers received support from the Chinese national government, while they would currently still receive support from regional governments. The EU imported some €1.35 billion worth of wind turbines and components for them from China by 2023.
The European Commission is concerned that this could push European manufacturers out of the market. The investigation focuses specifically on wind farm construction in Bulgaria, France, Greece, Romania and Spain.
Solar panels
Chinese solar panels have also been the subject of a European investigation in the past. For example, investigations were launched in 2012 into illegal subsidies and the ‘dumping’ of Chinese solar panels on the European market. The aim then, too, was to create a level playing field. That does not, however, appear to have been successful; figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) from September 2023 show that 89 per cent of solar panels in the Netherlands were imported from China.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Image: Michal Jarmoluk via Pixabay
