EU–China maritime transport agreement

KEY POINTS

Scope

• The agreement covers transports to and from China, to and from the EU, as well as to and from the EU and China on the one hand and non-EU countries on the other.
• The agreement applies to international maritime cargo transport and logistic services, including multimodal operations involving a sea leg, between the ports of China and of the EU Member States and to international maritime cargo transport between the ports of the Member States.
• It also applies to cross trades¹ and to the movement of equipment such as empty containers, not being carried as cargo against payment, between ports of China or between ports of a Member State.

Principles

The agreement is based on a number of principles:

• the freedom to provide maritime transport services;
• free access to cargoes and cross trades;
• unrestricted access to, and non-discriminatory treatment in, the use of ports and auxiliary services and regarding commercial presence.

Main elements

The agreement establishes a number of specific obligations for China with regard to the EU and vice versa.

• It sets out the obligation of national treatment to vessels flying the EU flag and/or being operated by EU nationals and/or companies regarding:
  • access to ports;
  • the use of infrastructure and auxiliary maritime services of those ports, and related fees and charges;
  • customs formalities and assignment of berths and facilities for loading and unloading.
• For multimodal international transport which includes a sea leg, China must allow EU shipping companies to establish wholly owned or jointly invested subsidiaries, branches or representative offices under Chinese law.
• Such wholly owned or jointly invested subsidiaries, branches or representative offices can employ key personnel under Chinese law.
• Revenues of EU nationals or companies derived from international maritime transport and multimodal operations in China can be settled in freely convertible currencies:
  • earnings of the subsidiaries, branches and representative offices of the EU shipping companies in China can be freely remitted abroad at the exchange rate of the bank on the date of remittance.
• To encourage maritime cooperation within the International Maritime Organization, International Labour Organization and World Trade Organization, and within the fields of:
  • maritime safety;
  • marine pollution prevention;
  • maritime education and training;
  • enhancing efforts for combating piracy and terrorism;
  • exchanges of personnel, scientific information and technology.