Summing up the EUCTP impact, EU Ambassador Mr Serge Abou said “Europe’s own integration process provides a unique reference for Chinese policy makers, who today face similar challenges in integrating China’s diverse regional economies through a continual reform process. The EUCTP has been the primary tool through which such experiences can be shared”.

To focus project efforts, EUCTP activities were organised in six key component areas, which included: (I) Customs and Import/Export Regulatory System, (II) Agriculture and Agro-food, (III) Technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, (IV) Trade in Services, (V) Legislative and Legal Aspects of Domestic Implementation, and (VI) Transparency, Co-operation and Policy Development. These component areas were further broken down into 25 specific technical themes under which strategies were developed over the course of the six-year project. The wide scope of this co-operation supported beneficiaries in more than 20 Chinese ministries and administrations, both at the central and provincial level, as they interlocked with their European counterpart institutions. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce functioned as the main project interlocutor from the Chinese side and assumed a coordinating role with the other Chinese ministries and authorities.

Over the course of the Project about fifty Chinese government officials from both the central and provincial levels attended internships in European government institutions in areas such as competition policy, IPR protection, quality infrastructure, and agriculture and food safety. 250 Chinese officials participated in study visits to Europe, while EU officials could benefit from visiting Chinese counterparts. More than one thousand officials have been trained either in Europe or internationally. The Chinese government and provincial authorities received the bulk of trainings.

EUCTP impacts included assisting China’s highest authorities, the National People’s Congress and the State Council, in the drafting of laws such as the Anti-Monopoly Law. On China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (AML), a milestone in the development of China's legal system, the EUCTP supported both the crucial drafting and early implementation phases of the law.

The EUCTP prioritised service sector liberalisation in China with Financial Services the top priority, with regulators from the Banking, Insurance and Securities authorities referencing the EU’s own experience in services liberalisation and regulation.

Enterprises benefited from the improved trade environment brought by EUCTP supported policy, legislative and regulatory reform efforts. EUCTP support to the EU-China Regulatory Dialogue and its working groups, promoted international regulatory convergence and harmonisation for standards, improving the quality infrastructure in China.

The EUCTP also supported the implementation of the new Chinese Food Safety Law and the planning for China’s Food safety authority by organising intensive training for Chinese administrators.

The EUCTP was part of the EU’s 'Aid for Trade' strategy and the Doha agenda for development and is recognized as one of the EU’s most important trade-related technical assistance projects world-wide. The Project was the second in a series of three large scale EU-China trade reform projects. The third project, to support China’s sustainable trade and investment system, is due to commence in 2010. All three projects, spanning a total of 15 years, are designed to strategically support the Chinese government’s own rapid trade reform as part of a wider sustainable development process.