Reports have emerged that the European Union (EU) has voted to ban Chinese companies from participating in public procurement tenders in the bloc’s medical device sector for contracts valued over €5m ($5.72m) after an EU investigation found that fair access to foreign companies for public tenders in China were not reciprocated.
The reported vote stems from an investigation into Chinese practices on home soil regarding medical device tenders that was initiated in April 2024 under the bloc’s International Procurement Instrument (IPI) of 2022.
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The IPI is a legislative mechanism designed to address situations where EU companies face barriers when competing for public contracts in non-EU countries. It permits the EU to investigate restrictions on EU access to these markets and, as a last resort, opt to restrict access to EU public procurement for companies from the non-EU country in question.
This restriction has reportedly been applied to China, following an EU investigation into apparent procurement handicaps for foreign companies bidding on tenders in the APAC country. China is responsible for the second-largest medtech market globally. The IPI legislation enacted by the EU is reportedly set to result in a ban on Chinese tenders in the bloc for a five-year period.
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 EU commission also observed that China’s volume-based procurement of medical devices forces bidders to offer the lowest possible price, and that the contracting authorities set a maximum reference price and maximum price margins for bid selection.
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By GlobalDataGiven that bidders compete solely on price, this mechanism results in suppliers offering “extremely low” bids to meet the selection criteria, the commission noted, a factor that is “not sustainable in the long run for profit-oriented companies that cannot rely on State support”.
Writing in state news outlet Xinhua, China’s Ministry of Commerce stated that it “firmly opposed” the EU’s “protectionist” move.
“The EU’s decision and discriminatory measures harm the interests of Chinese enterprises, and also undermine fair competition and set up new trade barriers through unilateral tools.
“As responsible major economies, China and the EU should adhere to WTO rules, uphold the principles of fairness, transparency and non-discrimination, address challenges through mutual openness, and resolve differences through cooperative dialogue to jointly safeguard the healthy development of China-EU economic and trade relations.”
The medtech industry has been reeling from fluctuating market demand in China over the past few years. In 2024, GE HealthCare cut its revenue growth amid the anti-corruption drive in China. Roche, in its Q1 2025 report, said its diagnostics division sales growth was impacted by China’s pricing reforms.
