WRITTEN QUESTION P-0107/03 by Luciana Sbarbati (ELDR) to the Commission. Chinese products and competition.
Date: 2003-01-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: China, European standard, anti-dumping legislation, anti-subsidy proceeding, common commercial policy, common tariff policy, international competition, market access, product quality, product safety

C 222 E/150

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

18.9.2003

As for the tunnel link with France, the Commission notes that it was the previous situation (collection of
VAT in France and not in Italy) which might have caused distortion of competition (and which was the
subject of a complaint), and not the other way round, since the two Member States now collect VAT for
the same provision of services.

As for the link with Switzerland, it should be remembered that as that country is not part of the EU it does
not have to comply with Community law on VAT. So the situation of tunnel operators is not comparable
as they are subject to different laws and it cannot therefore be said that competition is being distorted.

Finally, the Commission notes that the Honourable Member’s statement that these circumstances ‘cause
problems for users’ is too vague for it to be able to give an assessment.

(1) Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States
relating to turnover taxes (cid:1) Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (cid:1) OJ L 145,
13.6.1977.

(2003/C 222 E/174)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0107/03

by Luciana Sbarbati (ELDR) to the Commission

(20 January 2003)

Subject: Chinese products and competition

The European market is saturated with Chinese products marketed at very low cost. Their prices, with
which European firms can in no way compete, are not always matched by their quality. Almost every
major industrial sector is involved: electronics, household items, toys, engineering, agricultural products,
textiles.

In order to comply with Community directives, our firms are forced to incur substantial costs and undergo
numerous checks, in areas such as plant approval, the materials they employ, the registration of patents,
labelling, waste disposal, etc.

Given that Italian industry is well known as being made up largely of SMIs which bear the full brunt of
this competition, should these problems persist the risks to the economy and the social fabric are likely to
become more and more serious.

What measures has the Commission taken to support European products?

Does it regard the presence on the same market of products subject to differing rules as fair?

Does the Chinese market offer similar access to European products?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(14 February 2003)

The Commission would like to draw the Honourable Member’s attention to the following points:

(cid:1) All products marketed in Europe, whether they be of Chinese or European origin, are subject to the
same technical regulations and must therefore comply with the same European standards where these
exist.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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(cid:1) All producers, regardless of their origin, must therefore satisfy the same requirements on Community
markets. The Community directives which seek to establish product safety rules introduce regulations
to this effect concerning the obligations of producers, their agents or any other party responsible for
placing products on the Community market.

(cid:1) In case of unfair competition, Community industry can obtain protection from certain imports to the
Community by using the EC trade defence instruments. Following the procedures laid down in the EC
Anti-dumping (1) and Anti-Subsidy Regulations (2),
import duties can be imposed on dumped or
subsidised imports if these imports cause material injury to the Community industry. The Commission
submits annual reports to the European Parliament with detailed statistics on actions taken under
these two regulations, including country-specific details (3).

(cid:1) In addition to these two instruments against unfair competition, the Commission has submitted a
proposal to the Council for a regulation which would allow for the imposition of safeguard measures
on Chinese imports if such imports increase rapidly so as to cause market disruption to the
Community industry (4). This new trade defence instrument would implement,
if adopted by the
Council, provisions explicitly foreseen in the Accession Protocol of the People’s Republic of China to
the WTO. The Commission proposal is currently being discussed with Member States. Adoption is
foreseen in February 2003.

(cid:1) China’s accession to the WTO has considerable reduced market access barriers to the Chinese market.
The benefits of the Chinese accession are available to EU companies. Since the accession, notable
progress has been made in changing the Chinese legislative framework to ensure transparency and
equal treatment for foreign and domestic companies.

(cid:1) However,

the actual

implementation of China’s obligations is the real challenge and is closely
monitored by the WTO members including the EU through the Transitional Review Mechanism (TRM)
set up at the time of accession as a yearly exercise to assess the implementation by China of her WTO
obligations.

(cid:1) In addition, the European Commission is also involved in a comprehensive programme which aims to
shape the development of a legislative and regulatory environment conducive to business activity in
China (including that of European enterprises). Wherever possible, the aim is to promote the European
regulatory approach in China, both at the level of enterprise policy and in terms of standardisation
activities for industrial sectors. One of the objectives of this upstream activity is to ensure that Chinese
products conform better with European regulations.

(cid:1) In this context, the Commission and China set up a consultation mechanism in October 2002 on
industrial products subject to technical regulations. The agreement makes provision for frequent
industrial products and for
exchanges on issues relating to these regulations concerning all
cooperation mechanisms in order to prevent trade disputes or the misinterpretation of legislation.
The Commission and the Chinese authorities will
introduce a comprehensive consultation and
information system on the regulations implemented by the two parties. The aim of this mechanism is
to improve mutual understanding of the safety objectives in the legislation implemented by the
European Union and the Chinese government.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 384/96 of 22 December 1995 on protection against dumped imports from countries
not members of the European Community (cid:1) OJ L 56, 6.3.1996, p.1, as last amended by Council Regulation (EC)
No 1972/2002 (OJ L 305, 7.11.2002, p. 1).

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 of 6 October 1997 on protection against subsidized imports from Countries
not members of the European Community (cid:1) OJ L 288, 21.10.1997, p.1, as last amended by Council Regulation
(EC) No 1973/2002 (OJ L 305, 7.11.2002, p. 4).
For 2001 the following report was submitted by the Commission: Twentieth Annual Report from the Commission
to the European Parliament on the Community’s anti-dumping and anti-subsidy activities (cid:1) Overview of the
monitoring of
third country anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard cases (2001), COM(2002) 484 final/2,
27.09.2002.

(3)

(4) Proposal for a Council Regulation on a transitional product specific safeguard mechanism for imports originating in
the People’s Republic of China and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 519/94 on common rules for imports
from certain third countries, COM(2002) 342 final of 25 June 2002 (cid:1) OJ C 227 E, 24.9.2002, p. 555 and
Amended Proposal for a Council Regulation on a transitional product specific safeguard mechanism for imports
originating in the People’s Republic of China and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 519/94 on common rules
for imports from certain third countries, COM(2003) 24 of 22 January 2003, not yet published in the Official
Journal.