EU'S Trade Barriers To Huaxin In 2007

In 2007, trade between China and the EU continued to maintain a good momentum of development.

From 1 to October, bilateral trade amounted to US $287 billion 500 million, an increase of 27% over 2006. Our trade deficit with the EU reached US $110 billion, and the surplus continued to expand.

But bilateral trade development is not smooth sailing. The EU has repeatedly talked about "surplus" and set up heavy trade barriers in China's exports to Europe.

Looking at the whole year of 2007, there are also some new trends in the development of EU trade barriers to China, such as the reduction of traditional trade remedy measures and the use of technical trade measures. These are worth our vigilance.

The anti-dumping investigation was reduced and the countervailing investigation was sprouting. In 2007 1-8, the EU did not mention a "two anti one insurance" investigation in China. This is a rare phenomenon. But from September to early December, the European Union launched 5 anti-dumping investigations on China's exports to EU products: citric acid, monosodium glutamate, iron or non alloy steel weld pipe, canned citrus fruit and iron and steel parts; 1 loose leaf folder anti circumvention investigations.

For the advantages and disadvantages of the anti-dumping investigation, in December 2006, the European Union published the green paper on trade remedy tools, reconsidered the legislation and implementation of its trade remedy instruments, and made public comments to all parties, and was ready to amend the EU anti-dumping law.

But for countervailing investigations, the EU is seeking policy adjustments. According to the EU's existing laws, the EU countervailing investigation is not applicable to non market economies. However, the new trend of the EU shows that the law for many years is loosening. The EU has already indicated that the countervailing investigation is automatically applied to enterprises with market economic status in the anti dumping investigation, and the EU can initiate countervailing investigations voluntarily.

At present, 12 EU member states explicitly agree that more countervailing measures are adopted, and only two member states oppose it, and more than 10 member states support the power of the Commission to initiate its own investigation.

The EU's search for countervailing policies is mainly aimed at China, and the European Commission has asked whether the use of countervailing and safeguard measures should be increased in the questionnaire to the public in seeking advice on the reform of trade remedy tools.

In the middle of 2007, the European Union repeatedly accused many of our exports of government subsidies and became increasingly hardened.

It can be predicted that the EU's implementation of countervailing investigations against China will become another means for the EU to set up trade barriers to China.

Technical barriers to trade emerge in an endless stream. From January to 2007, the EU issued 33 Technical Bulletin (TBT) announcements, and released 48 animal and plant inspection and quarantine measures.

These measures adopted by the European Union have little impact on the developed countries, but they are real trade barriers for the developing countries, because these conditions are difficult for the developing countries to meet their technological requirements.

In the WTO Technical Trade Measures Agreement and animal and plant inspection and quarantine measures, special treatment for developing countries is stipulated. However, the European Union has not considered this point and set the same high threshold for developed countries and developing countries when setting up technical trade measures, which is contrary to the principle of fairness of WTO.

In 2007, the EU's technical trade measures, which came into force or came into force, will produce unprecedented damage to China's export to EU products.

First, the entry into force of the EU REACH regulations has become the biggest trade barrier after China's accession to the WTO.

In June 1, 2007, the EU REACH regulations came into effect.

The REACH code is known as the "registration, assessment, licensing and restriction of chemicals" act.

It will replace the EU's directive and regulations on chemicals, such as the classification, packaging and labelling instructions of hazardous substances, and so on. It will require registration, assessment and licensing of all chemicals in the European Union market and entering the EU market and implement safety monitoring. 40.

REACH is not a separate law or regulation, but a comprehensive regulation covering the production, trade and use safety of chemicals.

REACH has incorporated 30 thousand kinds of chemical products in the EU market and about 5000000 downstream manufactures, including textile, light industry, pharmaceutical and so on, to register, evaluate and license 3 management and monitoring systems.

All chemicals and their downstream products imported and exported by the European Union must be registered and licensed before they can be circulated in the EU market.

Because all the cost of material inspection and registration is borne by enterprises, it is conservative that the cost of REACH for Chinese enterprises is 500 million -10 billion per year.

In addition, the results of the national inspection and inspection institutions are not recognized by the developed countries, which makes exporters more passive in the face of technical barriers to trade.

It will involve about 30 thousand chemical products in the European Union market, which will affect more than 90% of trade between China and Europe. The total import and export volume of chemical products in China and Europe will drop by 10%, and China's gross domestic product will decline by 0.4%, which may cause 200 thousand chemical and related workers to lose their jobs.

Second, the EUP environmental directive will become another major environmental barrier after WEEE and ROHS.

The EUP directive came into force in August 2007.

The EUP directive is known as the "eco design directive for energy products". It covers all electric products, including heating and hot water equipment, electric motor system, lighting equipment for household and service industries, household appliances, office equipment and ventilation and air conditioning equipment for family and service industries, and involves a whole industrial chain from design, manufacture to use, maintenance, recovery and post processing.

According to the instructions, designers should consider the impact of the whole product life cycle on energy, environment and natural resources when designing new products.

This is indeed a new challenge for Chinese enterprises.

After the EUP directive is implemented, it will increase the cost of design and manufacture besides increasing the cost of raw materials.

For those export enterprises that win at a low price, the rise in costs will be further diluted, and the profit margins will be greatly tested.

Therefore, for those enterprises that are backward in technology and inadequate in coping ability, they may withdraw from the European market.

After the implementation of the EUP directive, the impact on China's household appliances industry will not be less than 50 billion yuan.

Third, the European Union directive on the sale and use of perfluorooctane acid will be formally implemented in June 27, 2008 on December 27, 2006. The directive will be implemented in June 27, 2008.

The directive stipulates that if PFOS is a substance or element, if the concentration or quality is equal to or more than 0.005%, it will not be sold; if the concentration or quality of PFOS is equal to or exceeds 0.1% in finished products and semi-finished products, the finished products, semi-finished products and parts will also be included in the scope of sale.

PFOS is the most difficult degradable organic pollutant found in the world. It has high bioaccumulation and toxicity. PFOS is widely used in textile, carpet, leather shoes, paper making, packaging, printing and dyeing, washing, cosmetics, pesticides, fire fighting agents and hydraulic oils.

The EU's total ban on the use of PFOS in manufactured goods will have a great impact on China's export enterprises to the EU. Although the EU ban has a pitional period of 18 months, China has not yet developed a textile auxiliaries that can fully comply with EU's PFOS control standards. Therefore, textile and other light industry will face arduous challenges.

Fourth, the EU's new regulations on the maximum limits of food pollutants (EC1881 / 2006) came into force on March 1, 2007, and the original EC466 / 2001 food pollutants regulations were repealed simultaneously.

The new regulations put forward higher and more comprehensive requirements for the quality and safety of imported foods.

The new regulations provide the highest limit for nitrate, mycotoxins, heavy metals, dioxins, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, three chloropypropanol and benzopyr in six categories of food contaminants.

The pollutants mentioned above cover a wide range. Aquatic products, animal products, food products, condiments, canned foods, vegetables, fruits, wines and other kinds of food and agricultural products (29.15,0.88,3.11%, stock bar) are mostly under the supervision of new laws and regulations.

The EU's implementation of the new regulations on food pollutants limits further the threshold for Chinese food / agricultural products to enter the EU market, and the production costs and technical costs required by relevant enterprises will also increase.

A large number of trade barriers were set up on the basis of the so-called "Chinese products and food safety issues". During the most part of 2007, the EU vigorously promoted and hyped the products and food safety issues of China's exports to the EU, giving pressure to the Chinese government and export enterprises, and even politicizing the problem.

First of all, the EU has issued early warning and information bulletin through the "food and feed quick warning system (RASFF)", which has seriously affected the export of our products to the European Union.

If a member of a European Union finds that a certain enterprise's export food or feed is dangerous or dangerous, it will quickly circulate this information to all other members of the European Union through the European Commission, and at the same time, through the media, it will enable consumers to get this information in time.

But when RASFF releases this information, it does not say which product comes from, but from that country, such as China, it misleads all consumers in the European Union. It believes that all products from China have problems, which seriously affect the credibility of China's products in the EU market.

Since the fifteenth week of 2007, the "early warning and information bulletin" issued by the EU rapid warning system for food and feed has added two columns of "control type" and "state".

From January 1, 2007 to November 14th, the European Commission issued 368 reports on food and feed in China, ranking first in the world.

For export food, China has initially formed a relatively complete food safety legal and regulatory system, standard system and regulatory system.

At present, a considerable part of China's food processing technology and processing equipment have reached or near the international leading level. Large enterprises in meat products, dairy products, beverages, beer and other industries generally have world-class production and inspection equipment.

For the food problem between China and Europe, we should do the following work in a friendly way: strengthen international cooperation in food safety; attach great importance to environmental protection of food producing areas; establish a notification mechanism for international food safety information as soon as possible; resolve international food safety issues through friendly consultation; and correctly play the role of media supervision in public opinion.

Secondly, the EU's "non food products quick warning system" set up trade barriers for China's non food products.

The European Union's "non food products quick warning system (RAPEX)" was established in 2001 by the EU in accordance with the EU general product safety directive.

Since the European Union is the main export market of China's products, China is the highest frequency country in the European Union's non food products rapid alert system. In 2007 1-9, RAPEX sent 479 pieces of products to China for export to Europe (according to the data provided by China's technical trade measures network), among which toys and electrical appliances were the most seriously affected products.

How can we reduce the EU's notification of China's export of non food products?

First of all, the government departments should set up a service platform to deal with technical barriers to trade as soon as possible. The testing institutions should collect technical standards and testing methods of relevant countries and provide better technical support for enterprises.

Secondly, the production enterprises should enhance their self-protection awareness, and not be allowed to provide certification certificates to others without any conditions, nor can they meet the requirements of customers unconditionally. They should pay attention to collecting relevant standards and regulations of importing countries, timely understand the requirements of importing countries and conscientiously implement them, ensure product quality from many aspects such as raw material selection, design, process and pportation means, constantly upgrade product grades and scientific and technological content, and strive to establish their own well-known brands.

We must correctly understand and deal with the new trade barriers of the European Union. The new trade barriers implemented by the European Union to our country are mainly technical barriers to trade. We should correctly understand this trade barrier before we can take corresponding countermeasures.

We should recognize that, apart from the political factors in bilateral trade between China and Europe, technical barriers to trade are essentially products of inequality between nations, such as the level of development between developed and developing countries.