European Union member states this week voted to support a plan to adopt measures that would restrict Chinese medical device makers’ access to the EU market.
The member states took the action, under the EU’s International Procurement Instrument, after concluding an investigation in January that looked at China’s practices in the public procurement market for medical devices.
The investigation found that government practices unfairly encouraged Chinese hospitals to choose domestic manufacturers’ products.
“The Commission has identified measures and practices in the Chinese procurement market that lead to discrimination against EU operators and EU-made supplies,” Olof Gill, commission spokesperson, said Thursday in an emailed statement. “This discrimination also harms both the Chinese healthcare infrastructure, which is deprived of quality equipment, and EU businesses, with a high cost in terms of jobs and economic activity in the EU.”
The commission has discussed its concerns with Chinese authorities. However, a satisfactory solution has not been proposed, and the EU had no other option than to tackle the issue through an IPI investigation, Gill wrote. The commission said it could not disclose the content of the draft IPI measure or next steps in the process.
Chinese manufacturers would be prohibited from bidding on public procurement contracts worth more than 5 million euros for five years.
In addition, no more than 50% of a contract’s value may be subcontracted to Chinese entities or include Chinese-origin medical devices, MedTech Europe said in a statement. The trade group said it would provide further updates once the IPI measures are published in the EU’s official journal.
The EU investigation into China’s medical device procurement practices was the first use of the IPI, which was introduced in 2022.
Getting fair access to Chinese markets became more challenging for medical device companies after the country launched a program calling for domestically produced medical equipment to achieve 50% market penetration in county-level hospitals by 2020 and 70% by 2025, according to a statement from the European Chamber, which represents European businesses in China.
European and Chinese leaders will meet in July at a summit in Beijing.
