Foreign companies are losing market share in China across a broad range of industries because of discriminatory treatment by the government and regulators, according to the European Chamber of Commerce in China.

In its annual position paper, the organisation aired a host of complaints from its member companies and explicitly accused Beijing of violating its World Trade Organisation commitments through its heavy-handed certification requirements.

"Compulsory certification in excess of what is reasonable is being used to keep foreigners out of the market and business license requirements continue to exclude foreign companies from entire sectors," the group said.

China uses business licensing to restrict foreign access to some sectors and applies "vague and unprecedentedly broad definitions of public security and critical infrastructure" in its certification of a wide range of products, the EU chamber said.

This means foreign companies, particularly in industries like banking, transportation, IT and telecommunications, are often unable to get their products certified and so cannot sell them in China.