【英语中国】中国欧盟商会批评中国歧视外企

Foreign companies are losing market share in China across a broad range of industries because of discriminatory treatment by the government and regulators, according to the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

In its annual position paper, the organisation aired a host of complaints from its member companies and explicitly accused Beijing of violating its World Trade Organisation commitments through heavy-handed certification requirements.

“Compulsory certification in excess of what is reasonable is being used to keep foreigners out of the market and business licence requirements continue to exclude foreign companies from entire sectors,” the group said.

China uses business licensing to restrict foreign access to some sectors and applies “vague and unprecedentedly broad definitions of public security and critical infrastructure” in its certification of a wide range of products, the EU chamber said.

This means foreign companies, particularly in industries such as banking, transportation, information technology and telecommunications, are often unable to sell products in China.

Based on information gathered from hundreds of European companies, the paper is widely distributed in Beijing and Brussels and important in formulating EU-China policy.

The report was published as Lady Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, arrived in Beijing for meetings with Chinese leaders, including Wen Jiabao, the premier.

The content of the paper is unusually critical, reflecting increasing dissatisfaction among foreign businesses in China.

While it is difficult to identify new policies explicitly targeting foreign firms, companies complain that the trend in favour of opening markets has stalled and, in some areas, gone into reverse. “There appears to be a growing willingness and tendency to exclude foreign businesses from the Chinese market,” said Jacques de Boisseson, president of the chamber.

In its business confidence survey, the EU chamber found that 39 per cent of respondents expected the regulatory environment for foreign businesses to worsen over the next two years and a further 22 per cent said they expected no improvement. Only 10 per cent said they thought the regulatory environment would improve.

中国欧盟商会(European Union Chamber of Commerce in China)表示，由于政府部门和监管机构的歧视性待遇，中国众多行业中的外企正在丧失市场份额。

该组织在其年度《建议书》中，公开了成员公司提出的诸多抱怨，并明确指责北京方面施行苛刻的认证要求，违反了中国的世贸承诺。

“中国正利用超出合理程度的强制认证要求，把外企挡在市场之外，而在某些行业，营业执照要求继续使外国公司根本无法进入，”该组织表示。

中国欧盟商会称，中国采用营业执照制度，限制外企进入某些行业，并在认证众多产品时，运用“有关公共安全和关键基础设施的模糊且空前宽泛的定义”。

这意味着外国公司，尤其是活跃于银行、运输、信息科技和电信等行业的公司，往往无法在华销售产品。

中国欧盟商会的《建议书》以从数百家欧洲企业搜集的信息为依据，在北京和布鲁塞尔广泛发行，在欧盟-中国政策的形成方面扮演着重要角色。

上述报告发表之际，正值欧盟外交和安全政策高级代表阿什顿女男爵(Lady Ashton)抵达北京，她将与温家宝总理等中国领导人会晤。

这份报告的内容带有异乎寻常的批评口吻，反映出在华外企日益增强的不满情绪。

尽管难以辨别中国哪些新政策矛头直指外国公司，但企业纷纷抱怨称，开放市场的趋势已经停滞，在某些领域甚至出现开倒车的现象。“似乎存在越来越强的意愿和倾向，要把外国企业排除在中国市场以外，”中国欧盟商会主席戴杰(Jacques de Boisseson)表示。

中国欧盟商会在商业信心调查中发现，39%的回复者预期，针对外企的监管环境在今后两年将会恶化，还有22%称自己预期情况不会改善。只有10%的回复者认为，监管环境将有所好转。

译者/和风