WTO Cases • Volume 12 • Number 8 • 20th February 2008
EU, US initiate WTO dispute proceedings against Chinese news regulations
China is on the receiving end of another WTO complaint from the EU and the US, this time over Beijing’s regulations on on foreign financial news providers.The Chinese rules, which date back to September 2006, gave Xinhua news agency "sole power… to regulate news services that distribute financial information in China," effectively barring foreign financial news providers from soliciting Chinese subscribers directly. The EU and the US claim that these rules violate WTO rules on national treatment and market access.US trade representative Susan Schwab said "China’s restrictive treatment of outside suppliers of financial information services places US and other foreign suppliers at a serious competitive disadvantage." EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, for his part, added that "China’s rules have tipped the balance against foreign companies." In response to their request for consultations, the first step in WTO dispute procedures, China’s commerce ministry on 4 March issued a statement saying "as a WTO Member, China respects the choice of other WTO Members." It added that "China will study the consultation request and deal with it according to WTO procedures." Washington and Brussels say they are hoping for a "swift" and "amicable" resolution to the dispute. This could well happen: the Financial Times reported this week that China’s reaction to the case was milder than normal, and that the head of the Chinese government General Administration of Press and Publications had suggested that Xinhua’s regulatory role over foreign financial news providers might be curtailed.Washington and Brussels have turned up the heat on China at the WTO in recent years, as tensions rise over China’s growing trade surplus with both. Last month, a WTO panel issued an interim ruling favouring the US, the EU, and Canada over China, in a dispute over auto parts (see BRIDGES Weekly, 20 February 2008, http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/08-02-20/story4.htm)."EU, US File WTO Complaint Over Chinese Media Curbs," BLOOMBERG, 3 March 2008; "EU, US File WTO Complaint over Chinese Media Restrictions," AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, 3 March 2008; "China Gives Hope of WTO Deal on Xinhua Rules," FINANCIAL TIMES, 5 March 2008; "China to Settle Financial Information Disputes under WTO Rules," CHINA - MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, 4 March 2008.