On Friday 20 June, the European Commission published its decision to impose restrictive measures on China, affecting access to certain European public procurement markets. From 30 June, Chinese manufacturers of medical devices will no longer be able to bid for European public contracts worth more than €5 million in the area of medical devices.
This is the result of a survey conducted since April 2024 (see EUROPE 13398/2) under the EU’s International Procurement Instrument (IPI). As early as January 2025, the European Commission concluded that 87% of European companies were discriminated against, or even banned, in Chinese public procurement procedures in the medical devices sector.
As a result, and failing to find a solution with China to remedy the situation, on 5 June the Commission proposed that Member States take measures to restrict access to Chinese companies (see EUROPE 13652/27), a decision which they approved. Chinese companies will therefore be automatically excluded from public contracts worth more than €5 million for the supply of medical devices of any kind. These could include needles, compresses or X-ray machines.
To prevent circumvention, the Commission is also requiring candidates other than those excluded to guarantee that less than 50% of their products or components come from China.
Exceptions to the ban are provided for when no alternative to the a priori excluded Chinese offer is available.
In terms of impact on the supply of the products concerned, the Commission has estimated that public contracts worth more than €5 million represent only 5% of total public contracts in this area.
In terms of value, on the other hand, the measures taken cover 60% of the value of public procurement in this sector, according to the Commission.
Despite the decision, the Commission says it is open to dialogue and will be able to suspend or withdraw the measures if China offers “concrete, verifiable, and satisfactory solutions that effectively address the concerns identified”.
See the implementing regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/hgg (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)