Brussels, 28/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission feels that China still does not fulfil all the criteria to be recognised as a market economy under the EU's anti-dumping procedures, announced the spokesperson to Commissioner Pascal Lamy (Trade) on Monday. "Significant progress has been made by China", but extra measures are still to be taken in four fields, before the market economy status can be granted, said the spokesperson, specifying that: 1) State influence must be scaled down, and all companies must be treated equally; 2) accounting law must be respected and applied uniformly in all sectors of the economy, in order to provide viable account information to inquiries as part of anti-dumping procedures; 3) all companies must be treated the same in terms of bankruptcy procedures and protection of intellectual property; 4) market rules must be applied to the financial sector, and all discriminatory barriers removed. This was the Commission's assessment, but the situation will obviously change as China is able to demonstrate that these problems have been resolved. "In fact, it is good news for China, as it now knows what it has to do to obtain the status", said the spokesperson.
When it joined the WTO in 2001, China agreed to be considered an economy in transition for a maximum of 15 years. In June 2003, however, Beijing made a formal request to the Commission to be recognised as a functioning market economy. The Commission's assessment (the results of which have been communicated to Beijing over the last few days) concludes that the time is not yet ripe to upgrade China's status. In the meantime, the Commission is taking steps to minimise the real importance of this decision on the Chinese economy. The status of market economy brings advantages only as part of anti-dumping procedures. In China's case, however, the potential bonus is "microscopic", as only 0.5% of Chinese exports to Europe are subject to anti-duping procedures, explained Mr Lamy's spokesperson.