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Commission to assess next steps for tackling discrimination in China’s public procurement market for medical devices

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Commission to assess next steps for tackling discrimination in China’s public procurement market for medical devices

2025-03-03
The EU investigation found that China discriminated against EU medical device manufacturers when bidding for public contracts. While the EU continues to use dialogue as the first step in seeking solutions, the EU is ready to take decisive action to defend a fair competition environment and support fair competition.
The EU public procurement market is one of the largest and easiest to access markets in the world. In addition, from 2015 to 2023, China's exports of medical devices to the European Union surged by over 100%, reflecting the overall openness of the EU market. The report emphasizes that there are significant differences in healthcare market regulation between the European Union and China. The Chinese government's medical procurement bidding policy encourages localization, which means that domestic medical device suppliers often have priority in public bidding. This policy poses a barrier to market entry for foreign suppliers, especially EU medical device companies. The EU investigation shows that this biased procurement behavior may lead to the EU taking reciprocal measures.
The European Commission strongly hopes to maintain an open, fair, and mutually beneficial trade relationship with China, including in public procurement. However, openness needs to be reciprocal: EU government contracts are open to non EU countries, and it is hoped that other countries will treat EU companies with similar fairness.
The EU expresses its willingness to engage in constructive dialogue with China to address and eliminate these discriminatory measures. But if there is no acceptable solution, the European Commission will consider taking IPI measures. These measures may include restricting or excluding Chinese bidders from participating in EU government procurement contracts, or deducting points from their bids over the next five years to address so-called unfair competition.
In December 2024 (5)