¡¡¡¡It¡¯s taken more than five years since its initial signing for the EU-China Maritime Agreement to be officially implemented. Why is the conclusion of this agreement so significant, and what has happened during the five-year wait?

¡¡¡¡The most essential mode  of transport for China-EU bilateral trade development is by sea, despite the fact that China and the majority of the EU countries are located within the Eurasian continent. In 2007, China and the EU were each other¡¯s largest trading partner, with combined trade volume reaching US$ 356.1 billion. More than 95% of this huge volume was completed via maritime transport. It is not hard to see how significant this maritime agreement is for both parties.
¡¡¡¡On Dec. 6th, 2002, after arduous efforts made by both, The Agreement on Maritime Transport Between the European Community and Its Member States, of the One Part, and the People¡¯s Republic of China, of the Other Part (hereinafter referred to as the EU-China Maritime Agreement) was signed in Brussels.
¡¡¡¡On Mar. 1st, 2008, the EU-China Maritime Agreement came into effect. By this point, the EC has already grown in to the EU, whose membership has expanded from 15 to 27 countries.

¡¡¡¡Five years of procedural ¡°Journey¡±

¡¡¡¡On Feb. 28th, 2008, an official signing ceremony for the EU-China Maritime Agreement was held in Beijing. In addition to official representatives from both China and the EU, those witness to the ceremony included representatives of the EU mission in China, envoys from the 27 EU member states, and representatives from COSCO Group, China Shipping Group, Sinotrans Group, Maersk Group of Denmark, CMA CGM of France, Hapag-Lloyd of Germany and other shipping enterprises.
¡¡¡¡Significant as this agreement might be, why did it take five years before its official entry into force?
¡¡¡¡Early in June 2003, China had already completed the required legal procedures. In Europe, however, 15 different countries required varied ratification processes. Then 10 countries including the Czech Republic joined the EU, beginning on Apr. 1st, 2005, and in September the same year, China and the EU signed in Beijing The Agreement on Maritime Transport Between the European Community and Its Member States, of the One Part, and the People¡¯s Republic of China, of the Other Part, as well as the Amending Protocol, so as to enable the agreement to be eligible for these 10 new member states. Shortly afterwards, China informed the EU about completing necessary legal proceedings; on Jan. 31st, 2008, the EU notified the Chinese side that legal procedures had been completed within the EU and, accordingly, the agreement and its amending protocol were ready to take effect.
¡¡¡¡Additionally, after Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU as of Jan. 1st, 2007, China and the EU further extended content in the agreement to these two countries and a new revised draft protocol took shape. Also during the ceremony on Feb. 28th, both two sides signed on this newly drafted protocol, together with which the new agreement is to be applied to the existing 27 EU member states.

¡¡¡¡Positive preparations before the official commencement

¡¡¡¡However, there is more to the five-year waiting before the EU-China Maritime Agreement took effect.
¡¡¡¡Zhang Shouguo, Deputy Director of Waterborne Transportation Division of the Ministry of Communication has said: ¡°Since the signing in 2002, there has been a bilateral talk with regard to maritime matters between China and the EU annually.¡± Based on the agreed principle, the main content of these talks is to discuss how to promote stronger cooperation between the two sides, concrete measures to accelerate development, strategies for current problems, management and work progressing respectively, and to learn experiences from each other.
¡¡¡¡Talks are only one aspect, however, and, ¡°Despite the waiting for long domestic legal procedures in each member state, in practice, from the very moment of signing, we had already put in the implementation of relevant content,¡± said Karamitsos, speaking on behalf of the EC and its member states.
¡¡¡¡Efforts from governments concerned have been highly endorsed by various shipping companies. Yan Ci, Senior Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs, Maersk (China) Co., Ltd. makes such straight forward remarks: ¡°Although the EU-China Maritime Agreement wasn¡¯t officially available until recently, we are already benefiting from it.¡± This is because after the initial signing, both China and the EU already started to allow EU enterprises to transport empty containers within the Chinese border, to set up branches throughout China without limitation, to establish shipping joint ventures and so on, virtually benefiting many European shipping companies in terms of their operating in China.
¡¡¡¡Over the past a few years, in the same way that Maersk has extracted benefits from the EU-China Maritime Agreement upon its entry China, Chinese shipping enterprises have gained the same in access to the EU market. Karamitsos contends: ¡°This agreement has offered invaluable opportunities for Chinese enterprises such as COSCO and China Shipping to expand into the EU market, enabling them to engage in ¡®door-to-door¡¯ transport.¡± Thus, the development and performance of Chinese shipping enterprises in the EU since 2002 has been markedly outstanding.

¡¡¡¡Statutory  ¡°non-discrimination¡±

¡¡¡¡Nevertheless, the agreement will bring about even more positive results after official implementation. Zhang Shouguo commented: ¡°It used to be kind of ¡°voluntary action¡± to promote and implement relating principles in the past.¡± But ever since March 1st, the principle of ¡°non-discrimination¡± has become the binding force backed by regulatory provisions.
¡¡¡¡According to Zhang Shouguo, the agreement mainly involves market access, use of each other¡¯s port facilities, recognition of the crew and ship¡¯s certificates, to facilitate customs clearance procedures, as well as tax preferential treatment. In particular, he stressed: ¡°It also involves dispute resolution mechanisms. In other words, as long as it is within the provisions of this agreement, some controversy can be properly resolved through this framework, which will be better for shipping companies of both sides to conduct business in each other¡¯s market.¡±
¡¡¡¡As a criterion, the ¡°Non-discrimination¡± principle runs through every main element of the Agreement. For shipping companies to establish a commercial presence in each other¡¯s port facilities and the use of the relevant provisions, ¡°the two sides guarantee the effective implementation of the principle stating non-discriminatory access to the international maritime market.¡± When the agreement comes into effect, ¡°in the provision of international maritime transport services, both sides are not likely to take administrative, technical or legislative measures that are possible to pose a discriminatory impact on the other nationals or companies.¡± Therefore, both sides will allow shipping companies from the other side to set up wholly-owned or joint-venture operations agencies, to commence international maritime transportation and logistics services, including ¡°door-to-door¡± multimodal container transport.
¡¡¡¡An official from CMA CGM China expressed fairly specific wishes on this topic: ¡°We do not rule out the possibility of setting up more branches in China because we believe that after the agreement comes into effect, the existing administratively-restrained market will become increasingly open.¡±

¡¡¡¡Links
¡¡¡¡So far, shipping enterprises from EU member states have set up seven wholly-owned shipping companies in China, 51 branch offices, and there is also a wholly-owned freight company, together with 13 branches. EU member states have totally 16 liner enterprises with liner transportation certification in China, who have opened up liner sea transport routes between China and Europe.