EU Chamber: China important to EU businesses, but more transparency needed Go back »

2009-09-02 | Beijing, Shanghai, Southwest China, Nanjing, Shenyang, Tianjin, South China

EU Chamber: China important to EU businesses, but more transparency needed
People's Daily Online, 2nd September 2009

On Sep. 2, 2009, the European Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC) released the European Business in China Position Paper 2009/2010 in Beijing, saying that China matters a lot to European businesses while further measures are needed to create a more transparent, freer and fairer market environment.

This year's position paper is the ninth one and is contributed by the European Chamber's 34 industry-specific working groups and forums. Over 500 recommendations from its 1,400 member companies are included in the position paper.

China's progress in legislation was highlighted in this position paper. China has adopted new Postal Law, Food Safety Law, Insurance Law and Circular Economy Promotion this year. Financial and IT sectors were also given special attention for approval by foreign banks to trade RMB corporate bonds and for a more competitive environment through 3G licensing.

The European Chamber also called on China to speed up its reform and opening up to increase market transparency and achieve its latent potential. "China has always benefited in times past from opening up its market," commented President Joerg Wuttke of the EUCCC

Restructure of China's economy is also highlighted by the European Chamber. "Overcapacity leads to dumping in other countries ... The EU enterprises won't add overcapacity to overcapacity."

As to protectionism, Wuttke noted that it is challenging for politicians worldwide. However, anti-dumping cases were not necessarily protectionism and should not be political issues, he said.

Wuttke said it was "a pity" when mentioning the estimated decline of China's surplus in Sino-EU trade. "It is a pity that China's surplus declined only because of trade shrink," he said. It could be much better if China "start consuming more, import more."

Source: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90857/90861/6746629.html