Brussels, 18/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 17 September, at the seat of the European Commission in Brussels, a delegation from the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, chaired by Joerg Wuttke, presented its 2008/2009 report to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on the activity of European businesses operating in China. EU business deplores a slowdown in the market reform process there, together with growing protectionism. “Our members feel the regulatory climate has failed to keep pace with China's growth and there's growing economic nationalism that's of concern to us”, The Wall Street Journal quotes Mr Wuttke as saying in early September. Despite their optimism about China's economic prospects, EU businesses still have to overcome many administrative and regulatory hurdles, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated and which prevent them from competing on an equal footing with their Chinese competitors. “It is clear from this Position Paper that doing business in China remains attractive. However, it is equally clear that much work needs to be done to create a level playing field for European companies, concerning market access, transparency and protection of intellectual property”, the trade commissioner comments in a press release. Mr Mandelson underlines the fact that, despite continued growth, bilateral trade remains imbalanced to the detriment of the EU, which suffered a trade deficit with China of over €160 billion in 2007. Also, the weakness of the dollar compared to the yuan means that the bulk of China's export growth is now being absorbed by the EU. While this has benefits for European consumers and for businesses looking for better value inputs, the Chinese market is still relatively closed to the goods Europe seeks to export in return. China may have lowered its tariffs substantially since 2001 but barriers “behind the border” in the Chinese market are costing European businesses more than €20 billion every year in lost exports. To deal with these issues, the EU and China launched a high level economic and trade mechanism in April this year. Mr Mandelson will make a first evaluation of its results during his visit to China from 24-27 September. (E.H./transl.jl)