The European Commission has abandoned plans to take action against Chinese equipment makers ZTE and Huawei for alleged unfair competition on EU markets. The EC said in a statement that it agreed an amicable settlement with the Chinese government on the trade defence investigation, putting an end to the matter.
The EC started looking into the matter in May 2013, when it launched an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into imports of mobile telecommunications networks and their essential elements from China. The EC decided on its own to start the investigation, without receiving complaints from the market. This led to criticism from some market players, who feared this could lead to reprisals in the Chinese market or stymie cooperation with Chinese customers and partners.
The dumping investigation was ended in March this year, and the latest agreement puts an end to the subsidies probe. The bilateral talks on settling the matter culminated on 18 October at the EU-China Joint Committee, chaired by EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng.
Under the agreement, an independent body will monitor the Chinese and EU telecoms networks markets, Chine agreed to provide European companies non-discriminatory access to the relevant Chinese standards-setting body, companies from the EU and China will have equal access to bidding for publicly funded research and development projects, and the EU and China will work to advance the International Working Group on Export Credits, whose objective is to adopt sector guidelines.
