On March 23, 2023, Ambassador Fu Cong, Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, met with Ana Gallego, Director-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST) of the European Commission. They exchanged views on strengthening China-EU cooperation on non-food consumer product safety, and other issues.
Ambassador Fu said that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China set a clear goal to promote high-quality development and move faster to boost China’s strength in manufacturing and product quality. This demonstrates China’s commitment to further improving product safety and protecting the health and well-being of its people. As China’s trade in consumer products with the EU accounts for nearly a third of the total volume of China-EU trade, strengthening cooperation between the two sides on product safety surveillance plays an important role in safeguarding consumers’ rights and interests, ensuring the safety and stability of the industrial and supply chains, and boosting the sound development of China-EU trade. China attaches great importance to cooperation with the EU on product safety and hopes to continue to promote institutional dialogue, enhance policy communication and notification, improve capacity building in law enforcement, and deepen exchanges of experience and mutually beneficial cooperation in dealing with opportunities and challenges of emerging business models such as cross-border e-commerce.
Director-General Gallego congratulated Ambassador Fu for assuming the new role. She noted that China is a major exporter of consumer products to the EU and both sides enjoy a huge consumer base. It is in the mutual interest of the two sides to strengthen China-EU cooperation. The EU speaks highly of the practical cooperation developed over the years between the two sides and expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved. The EU stands ready to enhance cooperation with China on expert dialogue, exchanges on regulations and policies, product information notification, and training.
They also exchanged views and reached agreement on actively cooperating with China-EU high-level meetings, pushing forward the conclusion of cooperation documents, enhancing communication on legal affairs.