China Retaliates Against EU With Medical Device Procurement Ban
Beijing is barring European companies from selling medical devices to the Chinese government in retaliation for a similar measure announced by the European Commission last month (see 2506200015).
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The EU, which announced a set of medical device procurement restrictions against China in June, "has ignored China's goodwill and sincerity and still insisted on taking restrictive measures and building new protectionist barriers," a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson said July 6 at a regular press conference in response to a reporter's question. "Therefore, China has to take reciprocal restrictive measures."
China's measures "only target medical device products imported from the EU, and products produced by European-funded enterprises in China are not affected," the spokesperson said.
The Chinese measures, effective July 6, will exclude European companies from being eligible to sell medical devices to the government if the sale is greater than about $6.29 million, according to Xinhua, a Chinese state-run news agency. Any non-EU companies also will be barred from participating in a government procurement project if the proportion of the sale's medical devices that are imported from the EU is more than 50% "of the procurement's total contract amount," the report said. The ban doesn't apply to procurement projects "that can only be met by medical devices imported from the EU."