China’s ‘state-centric approach’ to technical standards-setting worries EU firms

Technical-standards setting has arisen as the new battleground in superpower rivalry, with challenges posed by China’s rise also a “wake-up call” for Europe, an EU business group has warned.

In contrast with the free-market driven practices in the West, China’s “state-centric approach” to standards will likely add to the risks of increased politicisation and a decoupling from international technical measures, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in a report released on Thursday.

“There has been a decent amount of complacency in Europe, which sees itself as a champion of standards setting … but China has a different approach and a different speed in this field and Europe needs to wake up to this fact,” says EU Chamber president Joerg Wuttke in the report.

The West has long had a lead when it comes to global technical standards, setting the specifications that shape most of the products and services that consumers use every day, from toilet paper to telecommunication protocols.

However, even though China is a latecomer, its influence within the existing international standardisation system has risen in recent years, with Beijing well aware that the area is central to China’s economic transformation and efforts to move up the global value chain.