For lighting export companies, starting from May this year, I am afraid that the nerves will always be stretched. Because the EU's technical barriers to energy consumption, the Energy Product Ecodesign Framework Directive (EUP Directive), will be implemented soon. In fact, last year's two "green orders" made their nerves stretched twice. The previous WEEE and ROSH orders once made them linger on the brink of anxiety, and this time, perhaps the storm will be more violent in the future.
The third wave of "storm" is more invisible
China's lighting export manufacturing industry is no stranger to the EU directive. Among the two "Green Directives", WEEE was implemented on August 13, last year, and ROSH will also be implemented on July 1 this year. This has had a significant negative impact on Chinese companies entering the EU. This EUP instruction is essentially the same as the previous two instructions. It belongs to the environmental protection requirements of the product and can be called the third wave of “green instructionsâ€.
The requirements for environmental protection have been repeatedly mentioned in the certification barrier by the EU. Among them, the EUP Directive is the “Environmental Design Directive for Energy-using Products†implemented by the European Union since August 11, last year, and is also an item added by CE certification based on the original EMC and LVD directives. The directive is an ecological file of the enterprise's assessment of product life cycle control, namely procurement-design-production-transportation-installation-recycling. It puts environmental protection requirements on energy-consuming products and has a wide range of influences. It is understood that the EUP directive requires companies to consider new factors such as product function, performance, materials, structure, appearance, etc., as well as the impact of the entire product life cycle on energy, environment, and natural resources. The goal is to improve the environmental performance of products by enhancing environmental design, improve energy efficiency, and minimize negative impacts on the environment.
Some industry experts believe that the directive is actually a more subtle technical barrier to trade, and its potential impact on producers may far exceed ROSH. Because the directive runs through the entire life cycle of the product and has great operational flexibility during execution, the EUP directive will have a significant impact on the global lighting export manufacturer. It is reported that technical trade barriers are a common means for importing countries to protect their own trade. They usually use products and services from abroad to consciously use complex and demanding product technical standards, sanitary quarantine regulations, commodity packaging and labeling regulations, etc., based on the protection of limited resources, protection of the ecological environment and human health, and the safety of animals and plants. Limit the formation of new non-tariff barriers.
This is related to trade competition between countries. In fact, some countries use the advantages of technology and industrial development to protect the public interest as an excuse to formulate more stringent technical standards and regulations and certification systems than international standards to limit and offset the land and resources of developing countries. And certain advantages of the labor force and other aspects, limit the import of its products, to achieve the purpose of protecting the development of its own industry. As a non-tariff trade barrier, technical trade barriers are highly concealed compared to other trade barriers.
Three impacts of exposure to light enterprises
From the perspective of China's lighting exports, 80% of the EUP directive is for Chinese companies. From the WEEE directive, the ROSH directive to the EUP directive, why do Chinese export companies always encounter the "technical barriers" of the EU? It is not difficult to see that the three-wave "Green Directive" not only highlights the intention of the EU to deliberately set up trade barriers for imported products, but also exposes that China's lighting export enterprises have long stayed at the end of the international industrial chain, environmental awareness is not strong, and core technical standards are missing. defect.
According to Xu Tianding, general manager of Dongguan Samsung Lighting, China's lighting exports have long been dominated by local developers and foreign investors. In terms of environmental protection and safety of products, such as temperature rise, pressure insulation and surface treatment, The property developers are obviously not as good as foreign investors. Mainly China's local enterprises have long been producing low-end products, and have been lacking in product research and development and innovation. The mastery of core technologies has long been in a weak position.
The neglect of consumer rights and interests of foreign consumers, which is widespread in domestic export enterprises, is also a major flaw, and foreign countries pay particular attention to this. Foreign requirements for products not only stay in the product itself, but also take into account the joint responsibility of the product, including the environmental and personal safety impacts on the surrounding environment and people. It is reported that there was a case of explosion of lighting products exported to overseas markets in Zhongshan City. The export enterprises compensated for the huge losses at that time, mainly because they did not take into account the temperature difference between the two countries.
Guangdong-made lamps bear the brunt
As an important energy-consuming product, Guangdong export lighting will be one of the most seriously affected products by EUP.
Due to the low price and good quality of Guangdong lamps, it has already occupied an important place in the international lighting market. According to customs statistics, in the first four months of 2006, Guangdong Province exported 970 million US dollars of lamps, maintaining a good momentum of 24.4% year-on-year growth.
However, the increase in EU barriers will have a strong impact on Guangdong lighting export enterprises.
First of all, the price advantage of Guangdong-made lamps is hard to continue. According to Xu Tianding, the successive implementation of WEEE and ROSH in the dual instructions greatly increased the export cost of lighting companies. Due to cost considerations, most of the export lighting manufacturers have no conditions to purchase related testing equipment, and can only rely on verbal or written guarantees from parts suppliers, so it is impossible to directly control each batch of exporting lamps to comply with the instructions. Claim. Therefore, in the event that products are found to be excessive, export companies will face the risk of being blocked by the EU.
Secondly, the export is too concentrated, and the risk factor is increased. Guangdong-made lamps have been popular in Europe and the United States in recent years, and the quality of products has been continuously improved, and the price advantage has been further highlighted. However, the export market is excessively concentrated in Europe and the United States, and is highly vulnerable to anti-dumping or trade restrictions. In the first four months of 2006, the United States and the European Union together accounted for 67% of China's lighting export market. Guangdong's total exports of lamps to the United States, Europe and Hong Kong increased by 23.9%, accounting for 76.3% of the total value of lamps and lanterns during the same period. Exports to the United States increased by 27.3%; exports to the EU increased by 21.1%. However, with the rapid growth of exports, it will surely cause vigilance in the European and American lighting industry, which will lead to trade barriers.
Third, the industry ecology of most small and medium-sized export enterprises in Guangdong in the low-end market is likely to lead to price wars. According to industry insiders, Guangdong's export lighting products are popular in style, and the grades are not high. The medium and low-grade popular traditional lamps occupy a dominant position. There are few large-scale, high-value-added, high-grade or new-type lighting products such as industrial lighting and public lighting. This has become the most troublesome problem in the Guangdong lighting industry. At the same time, the prices of major raw materials such as copper and steel have risen this year, resulting in high production costs for export lighting companies. In this case, the export lighting factory still pressed each other's prices, and it was impossible to reduce the pressure on raw materials by raising the price.
Prepare in advance
On March 18th, Guzhen Town held an EUP product technology seminar to introduce the latest requirements of the EUP directive. I hope that lighting export enterprises will take precautions in advance. All relevant enterprises have also begun to take the time to understand the main contents of EU countries' EUP directives, and to "check and fill gaps" in combination with their own product defects.
In addition, export enterprises should increase investment in science and technology and talents, improve the quality of their products, especially environmental protection performance, establish a scientific quality management system, and ensure good raw material control, production safety and export inspection. Dongguan Samsung Lighting has focused on industrial upgrading a few years ago and developed various new types of lamps, which not only improved the industry profits, but also reduced the risk of trade barriers.
The relevant customs authorities said that Guangdong lighting enterprises should reduce the risk of barriers and take a virtuous circle. First, we must establish a diversified market to avoid excessive growth of exports to specific countries or regions in the short term. Secondly, we must rationally limit export prices and avoid blind price reduction. Increase the technological content, increase the variety of colors, and develop special-purpose products to increase added value. It is best to play the role of industry associations, integrate enterprise resources, and merge small and scattered enterprises to improve the overall scale of the industry.
The third wave of "storm" is more invisible
China's lighting export manufacturing industry is no stranger to the EU directive. Among the two "Green Directives", WEEE was implemented on August 13, last year, and ROSH will also be implemented on July 1 this year. This has had a significant negative impact on Chinese companies entering the EU. This EUP instruction is essentially the same as the previous two instructions. It belongs to the environmental protection requirements of the product and can be called the third wave of “green instructionsâ€.
The requirements for environmental protection have been repeatedly mentioned in the certification barrier by the EU. Among them, the EUP Directive is the “Environmental Design Directive for Energy-using Products†implemented by the European Union since August 11, last year, and is also an item added by CE certification based on the original EMC and LVD directives. The directive is an ecological file of the enterprise's assessment of product life cycle control, namely procurement-design-production-transportation-installation-recycling. It puts environmental protection requirements on energy-consuming products and has a wide range of influences. It is understood that the EUP directive requires companies to consider new factors such as product function, performance, materials, structure, appearance, etc., as well as the impact of the entire product life cycle on energy, environment, and natural resources. The goal is to improve the environmental performance of products by enhancing environmental design, improve energy efficiency, and minimize negative impacts on the environment.
Some industry experts believe that the directive is actually a more subtle technical barrier to trade, and its potential impact on producers may far exceed ROSH. Because the directive runs through the entire life cycle of the product and has great operational flexibility during execution, the EUP directive will have a significant impact on the global lighting export manufacturer. It is reported that technical trade barriers are a common means for importing countries to protect their own trade. They usually use products and services from abroad to consciously use complex and demanding product technical standards, sanitary quarantine regulations, commodity packaging and labeling regulations, etc., based on the protection of limited resources, protection of the ecological environment and human health, and the safety of animals and plants. Limit the formation of new non-tariff barriers.
This is related to trade competition between countries. In fact, some countries use the advantages of technology and industrial development to protect the public interest as an excuse to formulate more stringent technical standards and regulations and certification systems than international standards to limit and offset the land and resources of developing countries. And certain advantages of the labor force and other aspects, limit the import of its products, to achieve the purpose of protecting the development of its own industry. As a non-tariff trade barrier, technical trade barriers are highly concealed compared to other trade barriers.
Three impacts of exposure to light enterprises
From the perspective of China's lighting exports, 80% of the EUP directive is for Chinese companies. From the WEEE directive, the ROSH directive to the EUP directive, why do Chinese export companies always encounter the "technical barriers" of the EU? It is not difficult to see that the three-wave "Green Directive" not only highlights the intention of the EU to deliberately set up trade barriers for imported products, but also exposes that China's lighting export enterprises have long stayed at the end of the international industrial chain, environmental awareness is not strong, and core technical standards are missing. defect.
According to Xu Tianding, general manager of Dongguan Samsung Lighting, China's lighting exports have long been dominated by local developers and foreign investors. In terms of environmental protection and safety of products, such as temperature rise, pressure insulation and surface treatment, The property developers are obviously not as good as foreign investors. Mainly China's local enterprises have long been producing low-end products, and have been lacking in product research and development and innovation. The mastery of core technologies has long been in a weak position.
The neglect of consumer rights and interests of foreign consumers, which is widespread in domestic export enterprises, is also a major flaw, and foreign countries pay particular attention to this. Foreign requirements for products not only stay in the product itself, but also take into account the joint responsibility of the product, including the environmental and personal safety impacts on the surrounding environment and people. It is reported that there was a case of explosion of lighting products exported to overseas markets in Zhongshan City. The export enterprises compensated for the huge losses at that time, mainly because they did not take into account the temperature difference between the two countries.
Guangdong-made lamps bear the brunt
As an important energy-consuming product, Guangdong export lighting will be one of the most seriously affected products by EUP.
Due to the low price and good quality of Guangdong lamps, it has already occupied an important place in the international lighting market. According to customs statistics, in the first four months of 2006, Guangdong Province exported 970 million US dollars of lamps, maintaining a good momentum of 24.4% year-on-year growth.
However, the increase in EU barriers will have a strong impact on Guangdong lighting export enterprises.
First of all, the price advantage of Guangdong-made lamps is hard to continue. According to Xu Tianding, the successive implementation of WEEE and ROSH in the dual instructions greatly increased the export cost of lighting companies. Due to cost considerations, most of the export lighting manufacturers have no conditions to purchase related testing equipment, and can only rely on verbal or written guarantees from parts suppliers, so it is impossible to directly control each batch of exporting lamps to comply with the instructions. Claim. Therefore, in the event that products are found to be excessive, export companies will face the risk of being blocked by the EU.
Secondly, the export is too concentrated, and the risk factor is increased. Guangdong-made lamps have been popular in Europe and the United States in recent years, and the quality of products has been continuously improved, and the price advantage has been further highlighted. However, the export market is excessively concentrated in Europe and the United States, and is highly vulnerable to anti-dumping or trade restrictions. In the first four months of 2006, the United States and the European Union together accounted for 67% of China's lighting export market. Guangdong's total exports of lamps to the United States, Europe and Hong Kong increased by 23.9%, accounting for 76.3% of the total value of lamps and lanterns during the same period. Exports to the United States increased by 27.3%; exports to the EU increased by 21.1%. However, with the rapid growth of exports, it will surely cause vigilance in the European and American lighting industry, which will lead to trade barriers.
Third, the industry ecology of most small and medium-sized export enterprises in Guangdong in the low-end market is likely to lead to price wars. According to industry insiders, Guangdong's export lighting products are popular in style, and the grades are not high. The medium and low-grade popular traditional lamps occupy a dominant position. There are few large-scale, high-value-added, high-grade or new-type lighting products such as industrial lighting and public lighting. This has become the most troublesome problem in the Guangdong lighting industry. At the same time, the prices of major raw materials such as copper and steel have risen this year, resulting in high production costs for export lighting companies. In this case, the export lighting factory still pressed each other's prices, and it was impossible to reduce the pressure on raw materials by raising the price.
Prepare in advance
On March 18th, Guzhen Town held an EUP product technology seminar to introduce the latest requirements of the EUP directive. I hope that lighting export enterprises will take precautions in advance. All relevant enterprises have also begun to take the time to understand the main contents of EU countries' EUP directives, and to "check and fill gaps" in combination with their own product defects.
In addition, export enterprises should increase investment in science and technology and talents, improve the quality of their products, especially environmental protection performance, establish a scientific quality management system, and ensure good raw material control, production safety and export inspection. Dongguan Samsung Lighting has focused on industrial upgrading a few years ago and developed various new types of lamps, which not only improved the industry profits, but also reduced the risk of trade barriers.
The relevant customs authorities said that Guangdong lighting enterprises should reduce the risk of barriers and take a virtuous circle. First, we must establish a diversified market to avoid excessive growth of exports to specific countries or regions in the short term. Secondly, we must rationally limit export prices and avoid blind price reduction. Increase the technological content, increase the variety of colors, and develop special-purpose products to increase added value. It is best to play the role of industry associations, integrate enterprise resources, and merge small and scattered enterprises to improve the overall scale of the industry.
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