Overview

• The EU Commission has excluded Chinese companies from public tenders for medical products valued above €5 million.
• This is the first deployment of the International Procurement Instrument, a tool adopted in 2022 to enforce fair access in public procurement markets.
• EU investigators found discriminatory measures against EU-made products in nearly 90 percent of China’s public tenders for medical supplies.
• Beijing condemned the EU action as protectionist double standards and pledged to protect its companies’ interests.
• Limited exceptions will allow Chinese firms to bid if they are the sole applicant on a tender.