From EurActiv, November 20:
With the Net Zero Industry Act due to be voted in the European Parliament on Tuesday (21 November), the EU could exclude Chinese products from public tenders for large renewable energy projects.
Under its Green Deal Industrial Plan, the EU has announced targets to increase its domestic production of technologies needed for the energy transition.
The law introduces simpler and faster permitting procedures for the construction of new factories to manufacture “net-zero technologies” such as solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, wind turbines, and electrolysers for hydrogen production.
It would also exclude Chinese bidders and products from public procurement rules and renewable energy auctions, according to changes included in the law by the European Parliament’s industry committee.
“In the current geopolitical situation, our industry is competing with companies that are directly or indirectly supported by their own governments,” Christian Ehler, lawmaker of centre-right EPP group and chief negotiator for the law, told Euractiv.
“One of the indirect measures taken in other parts of the world is a protectionist approach to public procurement, while the European market is open to awarding public contracts to foreign companies,” he said. The Net-Zero Industry Act is “intended to level the playing field without triggering an escalating protectionist spiral,” he added.
In the industry committee’s version of the law, authorities buying covered products should ensure that “no more than 50%” of such products originate from countries that did not sign the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)....
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