EU threatens to file complaint against China to WTO
By Leah McBride Mensching, Tuesday 5 February 2008 at 23:45 :: Press Freedom & Laws :: #1212 :: rss
Saying that time for a negotiated solution is running out, the European Union is preparing to complain to the World Trade Organization about China's restrictions on financial news from foreign providers, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has written the proposal for the WTO to initiate a “dispute settlement procedure” over strict Chinese measures that affect “the supply of financial information services to China,” according to a European Commission document.
Xinhua, China's official news agency, was given sole regulatory power in September 2006 to regulate news agencies like Reuters, Dow Jones and Bloomberg, while also competing with them, Bloomberg reported.
If China does not agree to change its policy, the EU will take the matter to the WTO, an EU commission trade official told Bloomberg, speaking anonymously because the decision has not been made yet.
China ranked 163rd worldwide in the 2007 Reporters Without Boarders press freedom index. Eritrea was at the bottom in 169th place.
Foreign media agencies can sell news and information to subscribers only through agents Xinhua has designated. Xinhua also has the right to “select information released by foreign organisations and to delete any materials that are deemed to undermine China's social stability, endanger national security or disrupt the country's economic order, among other prohibitions,” the Bloomberg article, posted on the International Herald Tribune Web site, stated.
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