Press Release: European Commissioner Šemeta visits China to boost cooperation in custom controls and tackling counterfeit goods

Algirdas Šemeta, EU Commissioner for Taxation, Customs Union, Anti-Fraud and Audit, opened an international conference at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 on building bridges to facilitate trade between China and the EU.

The aim of the conference is to explore ways to enhance further customs cooperation between the EU and China, in order to allow a smooth trade flow between both sides while providing citizens with a high level of protection. Securing the supply chain, tackling smuggling (particularly of cigarettes) and protecting intellectual property rights will be high on the agenda.

China is the EU's second trading partner after the USA and its biggest source of imports. The EU is China's largest export market. Both the EU and China therefore have a real interest in ensuring that safe, genuine and legal products can easily enter each other’s markets. Commissioner Šemeta will spend 3 days in China, discussing key issues related to customs and anti-fraud measures with national authorities and business representatives, and will visit the port of Shanghai to see first-hand how Chinese customs controls operate.

European Commission: Memo/10/389: EU-China customs cooperation and combating illicit trade: Q&As http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/10/389&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: Speech/10/406: Algirdas Šemeta: EU Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union: "EU-China – Modern Customs Building Bridges to Facilitate Legitimate Trade and Protecting Citizens"; Audit and Anti-Fraud International Customs Conference China (Shanghai); 01 September 2010 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/406&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

---