The European Commission, the executive body of the European
Union, has adopted a new strategy to seek market access in emerging
economies, particularly China, relying on closer business
cooperation and targeting non-tariff barriers.
The new Market Access Strategy was brought about by the change
in the nature of barriers to trade, European Union's Trade
Commissioner Peter Mandelson said.
Modern trade barriers are more likely to be non-tariff and
behind-the-border regulatory issues such as poor protection of
intellectual property rights, he said.
"In China alone, European businesses estimate the annual cost of
market access barriers at 20 billion euros a year in lost
opportunities."
The EU is mainly unhappy with the service and technology
sectors, not goods trade, when it comes to losses caused by trade
barriers, an official from the Ministry of Commerce told China
Daily yesterday.
Government agencies from China and the EU are in talks to iron
out these problems, the official said.
China is trying to solve the IPR issues, Zhang Ji, a deputy
director-general from the ministry, said at a media briefing
yesterday.
"It's important for China," he said. "China itself is also the
victim of IPR violation."
EU's new market access strategy also aims to establish a close
partnership between the European Commission, member states and
businesses, and establish EU Market Access Teams in countries
outside the EU. Local expertise will make trade barriers easier to
identify and tackle, the commission said.
Market access will be assured through a stronger focus on
enforcement of existing agreements, both through formal dispute
settlement mechanisms that exist in the World Trade Organization
(WTO) and bilateral agreements, Mandelson said.
The United States last week filed two complaints at the WTO over
copyright piracy and restrictions on the sale of American movies,
music and books, saying "inadequate protection" of IPR in China
cost its firms billions of dollars a year.
Mandelson earlier told the Xinhua News Agency that the EU would
not join the US in its WTO action against China over piracy.
"For now, I have decided that the EU should be an observer in
the case rather than a party to it," Mandelson was quoted as
saying.
While acknowledging that the Chinese government has made efforts
to protect IPR, Mandelson urged more action from the Chinese side
to address the concerns of EU investors.
(China Daily April 20, 2007)