EU opens probe into China’s medical device market

BRUSSELS: The European Union on Wednesday (Apr 24) announced a probe into China’s scientific devices market, prompting an immediate accusation from Beijing that the bloc used to be taking part in “protectionism”.

Brussels fears China is favouring its relish suppliers by manner of the procurement of scientific devices. The EU’s legitimate administrative journal, asserting the probe, location out programs that will per chance be going down, in conjunction with by a “Aquire China” policy.

The EU moreover has concerns that China also can merely relish restrictions on imports moreover to imposing stipulations “leading to abnormally low bids that can’t be sustained by profit-oriented corporations,” the eye within the journal said.

Beijing lashed out on the investigation, with a foreign ministry spokesman asserting it will “fracture the EU’s describe”.

“Your total exterior world sees is it (the EU) steadily transferring in direction of protectionism,” said the ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, calling on Brussels to “conclude the usage of any excuse to groundlessly suppress and prohibit Chinese language industry”.

China’s scientific devices market is the 2nd largest after the United States, worth round €135 billion in 2022 (US$145 billion), in step with a 2023 advise by China-focused command tank MERICS.

The EU probe is the main beneath the bloc’s Global Procurement Instrument which seeks to advertise reciprocity in get real of entry to to global public procurement markets.

“The … restrictive measures and practices build at a indispensable and systemic pickle (European) Union financial operators, items and companies as they systematically favour the procurement of domestic merchandise to the detriment of imported ones,” the legitimate journal said.