Brussels, 25/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - After his meeting with the Chinese minister for trade, Chen Denming, on Friday 21 May in Brussels, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said he was encouraged by Beijing's initiatives to quell the European Commission's fears regarding the new Chinese innovation policy. He was, however, cautious when speaking about the obstacles to foreign investment. The Chinese authorities are currently preparing legislation aimed at promoting “indigenous innovation”, by encouraging Chinese administrations to buy goods and services developed in China. This has given rise to considerable concern among European and North American companies, which fear that a number of the provisions included in the new Chinese legislation being studied hamper access to the Chinese market of products manufactured outside China. They also point to the low protection of intellectual property in China, which discourages foreign companies from registering patents or conducting sensitive R&D activity in China. “We see it as a positive signal that the Chinese authorities have published a revised draft version of the accreditation procedure comprising some major amendments”, De Gucht tells the press, considering as “encouraging” the Chinese government's initiative that the text under preparation should give better coverage to issues relating to trade marks and intellectual property. The commissioner was nonetheless cautious about the general scope of the future Chinese legislative text, underlining that there are persistent “problems” especially when it comes to the provisions that remain, such as the requirement to locate research and development in China. (E.H./transl.jl)