The European Union announced this Monday the launch of a new procedure against China before the World Trade Organization (WTO) following “unfair and illegal trade practices” relating to intellectual property.
In his claim, the EU accuses China to put pressure on European high-tech companies to lower the prices of their patents, in particular in the area of 5G networks for mobile phones.
For this reason, the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, has requested consultations with the WTO, in the first step of the dispute settlement procedure.
In a statement, the European Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovicpointed out that European companies must be able to work within the framework of “fair and equitable competition.”
According to the EU, China has empowered its courts to establish binding patent tariffs essential patents of the European bloc, without the consent of the owners of those patents.
This “allows Chinese manufacturers to access these European technologies at a lower cost, unfairly,” the Commission said in a statement.
If these WTO consultations do not produce results within 60 days, the EU can move to a litigation phase.
The EU is in the middle of a trade confrontation with China in various areas.
China referred to the WTO the European tariffs on electric cars produced by Chinese companies, and in retaliation applied its own tariffs to European products, which were also challenged before the WTO by the EU.
