With the increasing emphasis on the protection of the environment, the protection of human life, the safety and health of humans and animals, and the conservation of resources and energy, the number of relevant technical trade measures introduced by countries (regions) is increasing. More and more. As the basic industry of the national economy, the chemical industry is closely related to industrial production and daily life. Therefore, countries (regions) are paying more and more attention to various technical trade measures in the chemical industry.
I. Bulletin analysis of global chemical technical trade measures
1. Large scale, strong cross-border, more systematic
In recent years, there have been more than a dozen implementation measures involving specific products that have been gradually introduced to form a systematic technical and regulatory system. For example, the European Union's REACH Regulation has replaced more than 40 previous directives related to chemical safety management. It has more than 1,000 pages and more than 500,000 words. It not only involves the chemical industry, but also involves all related to chemical production, use, and disposal. Downstream industry.
2. The technical standards are regulated and the diffusion effect is getting stronger
The technical trade measures formulated by the major developed countries (regions) are not only more and more demanding, more complex and more demanding, but they also continue to incorporate more detailed standards into technical regulations and give them legally enforceable standards. At the same time, many countries are developing or revising their chemical safety management measures based on the EU's REACH regulation. Some developing countries, irrespective of their ability to do so, simply follow the technical trade measures of developed countries to form barrier groups.
3. Safety and environmental protection, energy conservation, emission reduction and consumption reduction have become the focus of all members to formulate technical trade measures
The safety aspects involved in the development of technical trade measures by WTO members include: food safety (including containers, labels, contact materials, etc.), toy safety, electrical safety, chemical safety, etc.; environmental aspects include: energy efficiency regulations or standards, waste recycling regulations Or standards, regulations or standards that control the consumption of resources, reduction of emissions of toxic and hazardous substances, residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs, and health registration of food manufacturers.
Second, the characteristics of China's chemical industry affected by technical trade measures
1. Relatively few chemical products involved in China's foreign recall system, but product categories are concentrated
Chinese products have been greatly affected by technical trade measures in importing countries, especially CPSC product recalls, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) product recalls, Japan's affirmative list of food detainees, and EU food and feed products. In the RASFF and RAPEX notifications, Chinese products have become the main target of notification. According to statistics from China Trade Relief Information Network, as of now, only EU RAPEX's notification to China involves chemical products. From 2009 to September 2011, the EU RAPEX reported a total of 2,660 notifications to China, of which only 26 were chemical notifications, but relatively few, but the product categories were relatively concentrated, and the vast majority were glue products.
2. Various technical standards, certifications, and minimum requirements for toxic and hazardous substances are the most common technical trade measures encountered in China's chemical products.
According to the statistics of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), among the technical trade measures implemented abroad for chemical products in China, packaging and material requirements, various technical standards, certification requirements, minimum toxic and hazardous substances requirements, and environmental protection requirements are the most common restrictions for companies. . From the analysis of the causes of the EU RAPEX notification in China from 2009 to September 2011, it can be seen that most of the recalled products are mainly due to chemical hazards, that is, the chemical substances contained do not meet the requirements or the hazardous chemical substances exceed the standards.
Third, China's chemical industry suffered technical trade measures analysis
On the one hand, developed countries rely on their technological superiority and have more say in the formulation of standards. Therefore, technical trade measures have become more stringent and have become an important means of trade barriers. On the other hand, China's export products have low technological level, lack of independent brands, lack of enterprise competitiveness, and backward standard construction, which are the fundamental reasons why products encounter foreign technical trade restrictions.
1. The problem of low industrial concentration, structural overcapacity, etc.
Take tires as an example. At present, China's tire manufacturing enterprises have presented a large number of scattered and fragmented situations, and their capacity has been severely disordered. In addition to traditional tire manufacturers continue to expand production capacity, some domestic companies in the chemical, real estate and other industries have also entered the tire industry, exacerbating the fierce competition in the tire industry. Take the all-steel radial truck as an example. In 2009, the production capacity was 80 million units, and in 2010, 10 million units were newly added, and the total production capacity was as high as 90 million units, more than double the domestic demand for 40 million units. Because excess production capacity needs to rely on the international market for digestion, low-price competition tends to occur, ignoring quality issues, leading to the implementation of foreign technical trade measures.
2. Small scale of export enterprises, low added value of some products, high degree of export concentration, easy to attract restrictions on foreign technical trade measures
Most chemical companies in China have limited development scale, and there is still a certain gap between the level of technology, appearance packaging and environmental protection awareness compared with developed countries. For example, among all kinds of synthetic rubber manufacturing enterprises in China, the number of large-scale enterprises accounts for only 0.95%, while the number of small-scale enterprises accounts for 94%. At the same time, some chemical products have low added value, the export market is relatively concentrated, and the export price of products is significantly lower than the import price. It does not have long-term competitive advantages in international competition. With the continuous improvement of global product quality level and grade, China's chemical products The number of technical trade measures faced increases.
3. The construction of relevant standards and inspection facilities is backward, the export costs of enterprises have increased, and the international competitiveness has been further weakened.
At present, the standardization of China's technology is still at a relatively low level compared with foreign countries. Products and technology patents with independent intellectual property rights have a small proportion in the international market, and domestic enterprises rarely participate in the formulation of international standards. In China's existing national standards, less than 50% of international standards and foreign advanced standards are used, and high-tech standards are seriously missing. China's standards lag behind international standards, causing domestic qualified products to be returned or destroyed by the importing country when they fail to meet the standard. At the same time, due to the lack of domestically recognized chemical testing organizations, export products face expensive testing costs, and some companies have to abandon certain foreign markets because they cannot afford such high costs.
4. The lack of effective information transfer of foreign technical trade measures has led to the lack of effective countermeasures
There are few information channels for Chinese enterprises to obtain foreign technical trade measures, which constitutes a certain obstacle to the enterprises' response. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Commerce, 43.7% of the companies believe that “information is not working, and it is not known that the other party’s regulations have changed†is one of the major obstacles to responding to foreign technical trade measures. The AQSIQ's investigation of "enterprises' expectations for foreign technical trade measures against government agencies and intermediary organizations" revealed that among the total of 7,464 options, it is hoped that the government agencies and intermediary organizations will "provide the latest information in a timely manner." There are 2113 options, ranking first in all options.
Fourth, take a correct view of the impact of technical trade measures and promote the upgrading of China's chemical industry
Technical trade measures constitute obstacles to market access, limiting the export of chemical products in China, increasing the cost of import and export of chemical products, resulting in a decline in the output value of the chemical industry and weakening the international competitiveness of chemical and upstream and downstream industries. The areas where chemical industries are concentrated, such as Shandong, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, have a greater impact. At the same time, the production of products that affect human health and polluted environment may be transferred to China's interior, causing harm to China's environment. However, technical trade measures can also improve China's unified supervision and standardization of chemical products, prompt enterprises to keep abreast of changes in product technology standards and quality requirements in the international market, actively find gaps, increase input, adopt the latest technology, and strictly manage costs and financial management. And quality management, establish a quality assurance system that meets the requirements of the importing countries' technical trade measures, so as to achieve the upgrading of products and promote industrial upgrading.
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