China hits back at EU ban with ‘tit-for-tat’ medical device restrictions
China has imposed restrictions on procurement of European medical devices, following a similar move made by the European Union (EU) earlier this year.
Last month, the EU voted to ban Chinese companies from participating in public procurement tenders for medical device contracts valued at more than €5m ($5.72m) after an investigation found that fair access was not being reciprocated in China.
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The Chinese Government has now issued its own freeze, excluding EU-based companies from procurement for certain medical devices. The purchasing threshold for China’s restrictions is a price of over 45 million yuan ($6.3m). The notice was effective immediately when it was announced on 6 July.
Published in January 2025, the EU’s investigation concluded that Chinese policies, such as the nation’s ‘Made in China 2025’ economic roadmap, favoured domestic medical devices over imported ones by design.
The Chinese commerce ministry has rebuffed the EU’s ban, commenting that it continues to set up barriers for Chinese companies in public procurement.
A spokesperson for the ministry said: “Regrettably, despite China’s goodwill and sincerity, the EU has insisted on taking restrictive measures to build new protectionist barriers.
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By GlobalData“Therefore, China has no choice but to take reciprocal restrictive measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and maintain a fair competition environment.”
Dr Andrew Thompson, director of therapy research and analysis in medical devices for GlobalData, commented: “It seems almost exactly tit for tat – China is rejecting entirely the EU’s findings about China’s anti-competition restrictions from 2024.”
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the country’s demand for EU imports has slowly reduced, with exports to the EU being pretty flat; $10bn in 2021 and $10.4bn in 2023. However, in 2024, exports to the EU surged to almost $11.4bn, while imports continued to decline, resulting in the EU having a negative trading relationship with China for the first time, Thompson says.
“This is reflective of how Chinese brands are beginning to dominate all tiers of the Chinese healthcare market. I suspect China will hold fast in negotiations, and that it is the EU which will climb down,” added Thompson.
Trade association MedTech Europe said in a statement: “We regret China’s decision to further restrict access to its public procurement market for medical technologies produced in the European Union. Measures of this nature risk deepening trade tensions and ultimately deny patients timely access to indispensable medical technologies.”
“We urge both the European Union and China to engage in constructive dialogue to resolve the current challenges to market access and to uphold fair, predictable, and reciprocal trading conditions.”
Crucially, the Chinese policy does not include products made in China, a major respite for device companies that have shifted to localise production in the country such as Siemens Healthineers and Philips.
Philips’ posted 33.3% higher losses for 2024 compared to 2023 in part due to weaker demand in China. The company previously stated that 90% of its sales in China is via local manufacturing, any impact of the announced EU ban will be unveiled in its next earnings release.
As of November 2023, the Chinese market represented 15% of global revenue for Siemens Healthineers. A spokesperson for the company said the China restrictions are not expected to have a material impact on its business.
Beijing’s retaliatory restrictions mark the latest breakdown in life sciences relations with Europe, which have left the medtech industry reeling. GE HealthCare cut its 2024 outlook last year due to China’s anti-corruption drive while Roche posted flat diagnostics sales in Q1 2025 due to pricing reforms in the country. Tensions between China and the US have also left the global medtech industry exposed to financial headwinds.
Thompson says: “The EU’s drive to get more of an EU component to healthcare will likely drive up costs for the payers, and establishing local manufacture by Chinese firms, with an element of EU material input, might be the mutually beneficial solution. However, with frosty relations with the US, China might be looking to dump medtech products elsewhere at a reduced price.”
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