The European Commission announced today that in response to investigations under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), two consortia that include Chinese solar companies had withdrawn their bid for a Romanian procurement contract.

Last week, news reports indicated that the European Commission had conducted searches of Chinese company Nuctech in relation to an investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, and European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager spoke about the searches and this regulation in a competition policy speech.

The EU has published its official notice of initiation of an investigation concerning Chinese "measures and practices" in the public procurement market for medical devices.

Today, the European Commission initiated its first investigation under its International Procurement Instrument (IPI), in response to measures and practices in the Chinese procurement market for medical devices which it says "discriminate unfairly against European companies and products."

In official notices published yesterday, the European Commission has provided additional details on the Foreign Subsidies Regulation investigation it is undertaking in relation to a public procurement contract for a Romanian government solar project, based on Chinese subsidies to some of the companies involved.

At a Council on Foreign Relations event last week, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis discussed a number of China trade issues, including the general EU approach to China trade relations, whether the EU is rethinking MFN, and future prospects for unilateral trade action against China.

Earlier this week, the European Commission issued a provisional determination in an anti-dumping investigation on certain alkyl phosphate esters from China, setting duty rates that range from 45.1% to 68.4%.