MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Situation of the European ceramics industry – E-002348/2024(ASW)

Trade is essential for the EU’s long-term competitiveness. European ceramics, with a positive balance of EUR 5.8 billion, are important to the EU’s trade balance.

The energy crisis and third countries’ fast growth and, at times, unfair competition, have resulted in market share losses. Supporting the ceramic sector is of great importance for the EU to fight against deindustrialisation and for its resilience and sovereignty.

The Commission put in place anti-dumping measures on imports of ceramic tableware from China and ceramic tiles from China[1], India and Türkiye[2].

Improving the functioning of the Single Market also provides an important lever to ensure fair competition for EU companies and support internal trade.

The Commission has already put in place a number of tools, such as the Single Market Enforcement Taskforce[3], to improve its functioning.

The Commission will adopt in the coming weeks the 2025 Annual Single Market and Competitiveness Report and will further adopt a horizontal Single Market Strategy. Together, these different documents will help identify and address remaining barriers.

The recent Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation[4] and Construction Products Regulation[5] are examples of the Commission’s work to help ensure sufficient offtake to create lead markets for resilient and sustainable products.

Besides, as announced in the Political Guidelines[6], the Commission will propose an Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act to support industries and companies through the transition.

• [1] Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/493, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202400493&qid=1733935331907
• [2] Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/265, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32023R0265
• [3] https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/single-market/single-market-enforcement-taskforce_en
• [4]  Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:L_202401781
• [5]  Regulation (EU) No 305/2011, https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/construction/construction-products-regulation-cpr_en
• [6] https://commission.europa.eu/document/e6cd4328-673c-4e7a-8683-f63ffb2cf648_en