Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on EU imports and exports of medical equipment.

Apart from taking thousands of lives, COVID-19 has revealed one hard truth. The EU's dependency in other countries for essential medical equipment,

such as protective masks and gloves, but also

respiratory ventilators.

The EU and its member states have acted swiftly to counter these shortages, but Europe

may need to rethink its production and trade priorities if it doesn't want to find itself

in the same situation when the next pandemic strikes. Stay with us.

As more and more coronavirus patients flocked to the hospitals, doctors and nurses were

greatly concerned to realize that stocks of personal protection and artificial respiratory

equipment were running out. Realizing that producers could not meet the skyrocketing demand fast enough,

the EU and its member states, in close coordination with one another, took some emergency

initiatives to acquire and distribute medical supplies and imposed a temporary restriction on the

exports of personal protective equipment outside the European Union. But the EU did more than that.

In March 2020, the European Commission made a number of European standards for medical devices

and personal protective equipment available to help both EU and third country companies willing to

manufacture these items to produce them and place them on the internal market more easily

while ensuring a high degree of safety.

Thanks to the EU joint procurement agreement,

Member States have also been able to enjoy a stronger position on the world market

when buying personal protective equipment, respiratory ventilators

and testing devices for coronavirus.

The EU has also coordinated solidarity between Member States,

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