On Tuesday 14 January, after a nine-month investigation, the European Commission published the conclusions of its first investigation under the International Procurement Instrument (IPI). It concerns access to Chinese public procurement contracts in the medical equipment sector (see EUROPE 13398/2). The Commission confirms that Beijing “has put in place a multilayered overarching system of generally applicable preferences for the procurement of domestic medical devices that has led to a systematic discrimination against imported medical devices and foreign economic operators, implementing a comprehensive ‘Buy China’ policy”.
Several measures are part of this preference system, including the obligation for contracting authorities to purchase local medical equipment rather than importing it, whenever both options are put out to tender and the local option is reasonable.
In its exchanges with the European Commission during the investigation, the Chinese government indicated that it could not unilaterally open up its public procurement markets in the medical devices sector. Instead, it proposed negotiating a bilateral EU-China agreement on public procurement.
Countermeasures. The publication of the Commission’s report is only one stage in the process. The investigators must now determine whether it is in the EU’s interest to impose countermeasures against Chinese companies bidding for European public procurement contracts.
If the result of this analysis is positive, the Commission will have to choose between taking several types of action. It can impose a score adjustment on Chinese candidates for European public procurement contracts worth more than €5 million, or decide to exclude Chinese companies from certain procedures in the EU. This final stage will be carried out by means of a Commission implementing regulation.
See the report concluding the investigation: https://aeur.eu/f/f14 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)