China's Ministry of Commerce denounced the recent measures restricting Chinese companies from participating in EU public procurement of medical devices, calling them "new protectionist barriers."

Last week, the European Commission took a formal step towards imposing restrictions on government procurement of Chinese medical devices, based on an investigation of what it found to be restrictions on procurement practices in the Chinese market.

The Chinese government has slammed the EU-proposed measures to restrict the market access of Chinese medical device producers in the EU as "discriminatory" and "unilateral." This marks a new front in the EU-China trade conflict, affecting an industry with approximately $20 billion annual trade.

Based on an investigation by the European Commission, EU member states have approved punitive measures, in the form of restrictions on access by Chinese medical device makers to the EU procurement market, in response to Chinese limits on procurement opportunities for EU medical device producers.

At a European Parliament Committee on International Trade meeting yesterday, Members of Parliament discussed the European Commission's recent conclusion of its first investigation under its International Procurement Instrument (IPI), which found "clear evidence of China limiting the access of EU medical devices producers to its government contracts

The European Commission has concluded its first investigation under its International Procurement Instrument (IPI), finding "clear evidence of China limiting the access of EU medical devices producers to its government contracts in an unfair and discriminatory way."

Chinese laws and regulations related to national standards for office devices and government procurement were discussed at the WTO's Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures meeting in October, for which the meeting minutes were recently circulated.