Brussels, 22/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who kicked off the trade days at the European pavilion at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, on Thursday 22 July, spoke of the growing concern felt by EU businesses with a foothold in China when it comes to what they consider is a business climate that is not in their favour on the Asian giant's market. De Gucht explained to the press that European companies are increasingly concerned. This is mainly due to questions relating to intellectual property protection, he said on the sidelines of the event, as “the heart of our economy is obviously based on intellectual property”.
Karel De Gucht also relayed the criticism expressed by European companies concerning China's new innovation policy project. The Chinese authorities have, since the end of 2009, been preparing legislation aimed at promoting indigenous innovation, by encouraging Chinese administrations to buy goods and services developed in China. The draft legislation stipulates that candidates for public procurement must request “accreditation” certifying that they have used Chinese technology, in six sectors ranging from information technology to telecoms and energy. These preconditions are seen by foreign investors as protectionism. Thirty years after China's opening up to foreign investment, international companies are complaining of costly laws, of rules that give advantage to their local counterparts, and of growing nationalism. For many months now, the EU and US chambers of commerce in China have been sounding the alarm, fearing that legislation will become tougher against them. During a meeting between the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, last week, heads of German firms such as BASF and Siemens complained of the obligation imposed on foreign companies to transfer their technologies to their Chinese competitors in exchange for market access, the Financial Times reports. On Thursday, Commissioner De Gucht announced that the EU is currently working on measures aimed at obtaining mutual opening of public markets in third countries. “The idea is we could respond to a closing of procurement markets, which are very important, not only in China but all over. We are facing more and more problems with respect to this and that is why we are working on tools to defend ourselves”, he told the press. (E.H./transl.jl)