EU and China cooperate on the development of environmental standards Go back »

2006-12-04 | Beijing

EU and China cooperate on the development of environmental standards for electrical and electronic products

Beijing, 4th December 2006. Stakeholders from the Chinese and European public and private sectors met in order to discuss the harmonisation of standards and regulations at an EU-China Conference on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Beijing. The regulations, which are already established in the EU  and under development in China , restrict the use of certain hazardous substances in electronic and electrical equipment. The conference was endorsed by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the European Commission Directorate General for Trade, and included guest speakers from the Ministry of Information Industry, National Development and Reform Commission and State Environment Protection Administration of China and the European Commission Directorate General for Environment.

Speaking at the opening, Miguel Ceballos Baron, Head of the Trade and Economics Section of the Delegation of the European Commission to China noted that “China and Europe have the same goal in passing this legislation, namely the protection of health and the environment, while facilitating trade. However, there are still significant gaps and disparities between the two sides. This creates uncertainty and unnecessary compliance costs for businesses.”He also emphasised that “ensuring that respective RoHS legislations use similar approaches will be key to sustainable and successful trade relations between the EU and China. The EU Directive will be reviewed in the future and the Chinese Administration is in the process of being implemented. This means a window of opportunity for both Chinese and EU legislators to consider the important questions and issues at hand.”

Ms. Chai Xiaolin, Deputy Director-General of the WTO Department of the Ministry of Commerce of the P.R. China echoed these sentiments, expressing “this conference can act to enhance communication, understanding and cooperation among our [European and Chinese] governments, industry, enterprises and research institutes, and promote harmonious development in economics, trade and environmental protection.”

Giorgio Magistrelli, Secretary General of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China underlined that “communication and cooperation are fundamental for a successful relation between China and Europe” and that the conference will “help to present to China even further the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility which is a keystone of European corporate policy” . 

To download this press release, please click here: English version, 中文新闻稿

For more information, please contact:
Grace Yao, Press Officer of the European Chamber
Phone: +86 10 6462 2066 – 30; E-mail: gyao@euccc.com.cn 

For more information please contact