The Dutch cabinet has submitted a plan to Brussels which would give the European Commission greater powers to head off unfair competition from non-EU companies with considerable state support or home markets.

The ‘level playing field instrument’ aims to make sure that the European market is ‘not distorted by companies which can compete unfairly due to their situation at home,’ junior economic affairs minister Mona Keijzer told MPs.

This, according to the Financieele Dagblad, could refer to a Chinese company which is supported by the government and is so able to overbid European firms in a takeover battle.

The aim, the minister says, is to ensure that all companies active in Europe keep to the same competition rules and would allow the Commission to act if the market is being distorted.

The European Commission is due to publish its own rules on tackling unfair competition from companies with considerable state support in the first half of next year.