{"id":36912,"date":"2020-03-16T18:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T18:05:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-06-20T17:38:15","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T17:38:15","slug":"11912-what-does-the-eu-circular-economy-plan-mean-for-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11912-what-does-the-eu-circular-economy-plan-mean-for-china\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the EU circular economy plan mean for China?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The circular economy \u2013 a\u00a0model based on recycling, reusing and repairing raw materials and products \u2013 is a domestic political priority in China, written into\u00a0law in 2008.<\/p>\n

It is increasingly seen as a way to mitigate\u00a0global environmental risks including\u00a0climate change and marine plastics, and to stimulate innovation and new business models. It is also a\u00a0main pillar\u00a0of the EU Green Deal launched late last year.<\/p>\n

On 11 March, the European Commission published its new Circular Economy Action Plan<\/a>, updating the original\u00a02015 plan. It\u00a0aims\u00a0to lay out a \u201cfuture-oriented agenda for achieving a cleaner and more competitive Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

What will it mean for China\u2019s businesses and government policy?<\/p>\n

Addressing Europe\u2019s waste shipments<\/h2>\n

To some degree, the action plan is a policy response to China\u2019s ban on shipments of plastic<\/a>, unsorted scrap paper and other waste materials, enforced since January 2018. Since then, other countries in Southeast Asia including Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam have followed suit to reduce waste imports<\/a>, causing\u00a0Europe and other exporting countries to\u00a0struggle<\/a>\u00a0with their own domestic waste.\u00a0The limitations of the linear\u00a0\u201ctake\u2013make\u2013dispose\u201d system have been laid bare.<\/p>\n

Illegal shipments of waste from Europe remain a source of concern, and the new action plan aims to ensure that the EU does not export its waste challenges elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the goal is to create a healthy EU market for secondary raw materials by introducing requirements for recycled content in products, and to establish EU-wide end-of-waste criteria for certain waste streams.<\/p>\n

Towards sustainable product legislation<\/h2>\n

Although the\u00a0plan does not include any immediate hard legislation, it does include a comprehensive legislative initiative to ensure that only sustainable products can be sold into the European market. The development of various legislative proposals on sustainable products and regulatory frameworks have already begun. The core of the new legislation will make the existing Ecodesign framework<\/a> applicable to the broadest possible range of products, including electronics, information and communications technologies (ICT), textiles, furniture and high-impact intermediate products such as steel, cement and chemicals.<\/p>\n

Tighter minimum legal requirements for products regarding durability and repairability can be expected. Another objective will be the establishment of a new \u201cright to repair<\/a>\u201d and better material rights for consumers, for instance regarding the availability of spare parts or access to repair services. In the case of ICT and electronics, this would include upgrading services. Furthermore, changes can be expected so that product guarantees provide more circular and repairable products.<\/p>\n

Regarding hazardous substances in products, the plan encourages a shift to \u201csafe-by-design chemicals\u201d and will work towards harmonised systems to track and manage information on substances identified\u00a0of very high concern. Finally, the plan announces a revision of the EU consumer law to ensure that consumers receive trustworthy and relevant information on products at the point of sale.<\/p>\n

China\u2013EU trade and the circular economy<\/h2>\n

These developments will likely have profound implications for Chinese manufacturers and exporters of these products. To keep selling to the EU market, the\u00a0new requirements for a wide range of products will need to be adopted.<\/p>\n

The circular economy will require significant changes in the way global value chains and trade between countries and regions are conducted. The trade relationship between China and the EU<\/a> is highly significant. In 2019, China was the largest exporter of goods to the EU (responsible for 19%) and the third largest importer of EU goods (9%). Of the 20 goods which made up 55% of total trade between China and the EU in 2019, 12 belonged to machinery and vehicles, seven to other manufactured products and one to chemicals. The most traded product group was telecommunications equipment and electronics, one of the main groups targeted by the action plan.<\/p>\n

Chinese manufacturers of apparel and textiles will need to pay attention to the proposed EU Strategy for Textiles, which aims at boosting the EU market for sustainable and circular textiles, including the market for textile reuse, and addressing the issue of unsustainable fast fashion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s circular economy policy development<\/h2>\n

The EU\u2019s action plan also offers opportunities for China to give new momentum to the circular economy domestically. The country has long been a pioneer here<\/a>. Its\u00a0Circular Economy Promotion Law<\/a>, which became effective in January 2009, was one of the first circular economy legislations in the world.<\/p>\n

In recent years, circular economy policy developments have been developing rapidly internationally, and China could lose its frontrunner position. There is a need to further develop the Chinese circular economy law in line with latest global trends, to raise the level of ambition, improve the administrative system for implementation, develop new incentive mechanisms for industry to re-structure, and new financing instruments to enable investments in circular economy business models. Forthcoming circular economy legislation in China will need to extend beyond industrial strategies, to improving\u00a0consumer protection rights and\u00a0addressing unsustainable consumption patterns.<\/p>\n

New cooperation opportunities for EU and China<\/h2>\n

The action plan also shows the need for closer cooperation between China and Europe. Based on existing cooperation agreements<\/a> and programmes to support a more circular economy, the new plan provides opportunities to work more closely with the EU. This can help to advance the circular economy agenda domestically and overcome some of the domestic opposition from industries that benefit from the existing linear model.<\/p>\n

The action plan also proposes to build a \u201cGlobal Circular Economy Alliance to identify knowledge and governance gaps\u2026 and take forward partnership initiatives, including with major economies.\u201d This is an opportunity for China and the EU to play a leading role internationally. They will need to work closely, or the transition to a truly circular global economy\u00a0will be difficult to achieve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To keep selling to the EU market, many products will need to meet new requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":944,"featured_media":60785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[758],"tags":[515,580],"hashtags":[],"country":[20000110],"class_list":["post-36912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-circular-economy","tag-policy","country-china"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat does the EU circular economy plan mean for China? | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To keep selling to the EU market, many products will need to meet new requirements.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11912-what-does-the-eu-circular-economy-plan-mean-for-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What does the EU circular economy plan mean for China?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To keep selling to the EU market, many products will need to meet new requirements.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11912-what-does-the-eu-circular-economy-plan-mean-for-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dialogue Earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-16T18:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-20T17:38:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Gomi_speaker_sky_cropped.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Patrick Schr\u00f6der\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11912-what-does-the-eu-circular-economy-plan-mean-for-china\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11912-what-does-the-eu-circular-economy-plan-mean-for-china\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Patrick Schr\u00f6der\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7d0698fa201d47c6f306f2d27de3c89d\"},\"headline\":\"What does the EU circular economy plan mean for China?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-16T18:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-20T17:38:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11912-what-does-the-eu-circular-economy-plan-mean-for-china\/\"},\"wordCount\":945,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11912-what-does-the-eu-circular-economy-plan-mean-for-china\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Gomi_speaker_sky_cropped.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Circular economy\",\"Policy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11912-what-does-the-eu-circular-economy-plan-mean-for-china\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/11912-what-does-the-eu-circular-economy-plan-mean-for-china\/\",\"name\":\"What does the EU circular economy plan mean for China? 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