The European Union’s (EU) 27 member states agreed on June 2, 2025 to prohibit purchases of medical devices from China for five years in retaliation for China’s refusal to open its own tenders to EU firms. The ban is expected to affect contracts worth approximately €5 million (US$5.2 million) over the next five years. This post reviews the EU’s first use of its International Procurement Instrument (IPI), implemented in 2022 as a means of achieving reciprocal access for EU companies to government procurement markets in third countries.
The EU restrictions are the culmination of an investigation launched by the Commission in April 2024 against China’s procurement of medical devices. The investigation—concluded in January 2025—found China was discriminating in its government procurement against EU medical devices and limiting their access to government contracts. The EU probe singled out the “Buy China” policies as designed to directly favor domestic medical devices to the detriment of imported ones. China’s government procurement practices discriminated against foreign medical device firms, for example, by encouraging Chinese hospitals to choose products produced by domestic manufacturers. The EU found that 87% of contracts examined contained direct and indirect discrimination.
After publishing its investigation report in January, the Commission turned to the determination of an appropriate penalty under the IPI. It initiated a public consultation in February to seek the views of entities that could be affected by possible IPI measures restricting the access of Chinese medical devices to the bloc’s public procurement market for medical devices. Under the IPI regulation, penalties must be determined based on the two criteria: (i) the proportionality of the IPI measure with regard to the third-country measure or practice; and (ii) the availability of alternative sources of supply for the goods and services concerned, in order to avoid or minimize a significant negative impact on contracting authorities and entities.
In its consultations, the Commission indicated it was considering restricting the access of Chinese manufacturers from public procurement in the EU in all categories of medical devices, by requiring all EU contracting authorities and entities to impose a score adjustment on tenders submitted by economic operators originating in China or exclude tenders submitted by Chinese economic operators.
The member states’ support of a procurement ban, rather than a score adjustment mechanism, indicates their dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in efforts to work with Beijing to open China’s medical devices procurement to EU firms, while Chinese medical device manufacturers have had largely free access to public procurement tenders in the EU market.
The European Commission is expected to implement the procurement ban within weeks. It is unclear how it will affect the EU’s relationship with China and whether China will take measures to respond.
The European Union’s (EU) 27 member states agreed on June 2, 2025 to prohibit purchases of medical devices from China for five years in retaliation for China’s refusal to open its own tenders to EU firms. The ban is expected to affect contracts worth approximately €5 million (US$5.2 million) over the next five years. This post reviews the EU’s first use of its International Procurement Instrument (IPI), implemented in 2022 as a means of achieving reciprocal access for EU companies to government procurement markets in third countries.
The EU restrictions are the culmination of an investigation launched by the Commission in April 2024 against China’s procurement of medical devices. The investigation—concluded in January 2025—found China was discriminating in its government procurement against EU medical devices and limiting their access to government contracts. The EU probe singled out the “Buy China” policies as designed to directly favor domestic medical devices to the detriment of imported ones. China’s government procurement practices discriminated against foreign medical device firms, for example, by encouraging Chinese hospitals to choose products produced by domestic manufacturers. The EU found that 87% of contracts examined contained direct and indirect discrimination.
After publishing its investigation report in January, the Commission turned to the determination of an appropriate penalty under the IPI. It initiated a public consultation in February to seek the views of entities that could be affected by possible IPI measures restricting the access of Chinese medical devices to the bloc’s public procurement market for medical devices. Under the IPI regulation, penalties must be determined based on the two criteria: (i) the proportionality of the IPI measure with regard to the third-country measure or practice; and (ii) the availability of alternative sources of supply for the goods and services concerned, in order to avoid or minimize a significant negative impact on contracting authorities and entities.
In its consultations, the Commission indicated it was considering restricting the access of Chinese manufacturers from public procurement in the EU in all categories of medical devices, by requiring all EU contracting authorities and entities to impose a score adjustment on tenders submitted by economic operators originating in China or exclude tenders submitted by Chinese economic operators.
The member states' support of a procurement ban, rather than a score adjustment mechanism, indicates their dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in efforts to work with Beijing to open China's medical devices procurement to EU firms, while Chinese medical device manufacturers have had largely free access to public procurement tenders in the EU market.
The European Commission is expected to implement the procurement ban within weeks. It is unclear how it will affect the EU's relationship with China and whether China will take measures to respond.
