The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) Photo: VCG

A Chinese business association has urged the European Commission (EC) to enforce its Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) policy with prudence and immediately cease discriminatory and disproportionate enforcement actions against Chinese enterprises.

The EU should reduce excessive compliance burdens, uphold a fair, impartial and transparent business environment for foreign investors, and maintain an open attitude conducive to the healthy and stable development of China-EU investment and trade relations, the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU (CCCEU) said in a statement on Thursday (EU time).

The statement was a response to EC's recent FSR enforcement actions against Chinese companies.

Chinese security firm Nuctech was hit with an EU investigation on Thursday as regulators voiced concerns that it may have received Chinese subsidies that could have boosted its competitive position in Europe, according to a Reuters report.

The move by the EC followed dawn raids on Nuctech's offices in Poland and the Netherlands in April last year, the first under EU's FSR.

Separately, there was a reported "dawn raid" carried out last week on a Chinese-invested e-commerce company operating in the EU.

In a statement posted on its official WeChat account on earlier Friday, the CCCEU expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to EC's continued, targeted, and excessive use of FSR investigative tools against Chinese enterprises.

"We also believe that the Commission has failed to uphold the principles of non-discrimination and transparency in its FSR enforcement. Since the FSR came into force, the majority of investigations launched under it have targeted Chinese enterprises," CCCEU said.

"In the field of public procurement, Chinese companies have repeatedly been forced to withdraw from projects due to FSR investigations. A growing number of ex officio investigations also predominantly concern Chinese companies across sectors such as wind turbines, security inspection equipment, new energy vehicles and e-commerce. The facts demonstrate that Chinese enterprises have become the primary targets of FSR enforcement, in a clearly disproportionate manner," the chamber noted.

In January, China's Ministry of Commerce determined that EC's FSR enforcement has created de facto barriers to investment and trade, with cumulative direct and indirect losses to Chinese enterprises amounting to about 2.1 billion euros.

According to a 2025 CCCEU survey of 205 Chinese enterprises and institutions operating in Europe, 63 percent reported that their business operations had been affected by the FSR - including direct disruptions, lost commercial opportunities, or operational risks stemming from actual or potential investigations. Meanwhile, 51 percent of respondents indicated that the FSR had caused indirect harm to their commercial reputation and market perception.

Global Times