The European Union has targeted another Chinese company under its foreign subsidies regulation, the Post can reveal. Reports say EU officials entered the premises of the Dutch and Polish subsidiaries of a Chinese company involved in the manufacture of surveillance equipment, sources familiar with events said.
The company has not been named, but sources later confirmed that it was the Chinese firm Nuctech, a manufacturer of airport scanning equipment and other surveillance machines. The company’s name was first reported by German newspaper Handelsblatt. The investigators accessed the ICT system and staff phones in a dramatic utilisation of an economic tool that has struck fear into the hearts of Chinese businesses operating in Europe.
The European Commission released a statement saying it was “carrying out unannounced inspections at the premises of a company active in the production and sale of security equipment in the EU”. However, it did not provide details of the company name, nationality or details on the sector in which it was involved.
“The commission has indications that the inspected company may have received foreign subsidies that could distort the internal market pursuant to the foreign subsidies regulation,” the statement read. It added that they were “accompanied by their counterparts from the national competition authorities of the member states where the inspections were carried out”.
“Unannounced inspections are a preliminary investigative step into suspected distortive foreign subsidies,” it said, noting an in-depth investigation would be the next step.
The China Chamber of Commerce to the EU said the authorities seized the company’s IT equipment and employees’ mobile phones, scrutinised office documents and demanded access to pertinent data.
The chamber voiced “serious concern” over the “unjustifiable dawn raids” being carried out. The EU has already used the foreign-subsidies regulation to investigate state handouts in the solar, wind-turbine and rolling-stock industries. The tool entered law last year
