China

Trade between Germany and China has been growing continuously over the past years. In 2019, China was Germany's most important trading partner for the third consecutive year with a total trade volume of 199.3 billion euros. Traded goods – mostly from high-tech and innovative sectors – include motor vehicles and components, machinery, electrical engineering, consumer and chemical products as well as IT and communications goods.

Since 2008, Germany and China have been working together closely to increase product safety in both countries and to promote the development of a bilaterally and internationally coordinated quality infrastructure dialogue.

This goal was reaffirmed in 2019 with a Joint Declaration between the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) and the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). It serves as the foundation for continued cooperation on quality infrastructure in the Sino-German Working Group Product Safety and the Sino-German Working Group Accreditation and Conformity Assessment, as well as the Sino-German Standardisation Cooperation Commission (SGSCC).

The political dialogue mechanisms involve relevant ministries, regulators, public agencies, accreditation and standardisation bodies, industry associations and corporations from both countries. On the Chinese side, additional political partners include the SAMR sub-agencies Standardization Administration of China (SAC) and China National Certification and Accreditation Administration (CNCA) as well as the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFCOM) and the Cyperspace Administration of China (CAC).

The Chinese and German partners and stakeholders address market access concerns of the industry, and thereby improve business conditions and bilateral trade. Topics range from Industrie 4.0, machinery safety, medical devices, e-commerce and electro mobility to cyber security, IT security and data protection.