It’s now almost certain; anti-dumping duties on e-bikes imported from China will be officially imposed next January. It looks like the last obstacle for the up to 79.3% extra duties being installed, has been overcome. This took place last Tuesday at a meeting of EU Member State representatives in the Trade Defence Instruments Committee. They voted in favor of implementing the dumping duties, as proposed by the European Commission.

Normally the Trade Defence Instruments Committee’s proceedings are considered confidential. However, LEVA-EU reported yesterday on the Committee’s meeting and on the outcome of the vote. LEVA-EU supports the Collective of European Importers of Electric Bicycles, which is a stakeholder in the e-bike dumping proceedings. LEVA-EU reported “It appears that a majority of the member states in the Trade Defence Instruments’ Committee has backed the Commission’s proposal to impose up to 79.3% duties on electric bicycles imported from China.”

LEVA-EU comments

LEVA-EU Manager Annick Roetynck responded to this with “We haven’t yet received detailed information on the outcome, but it’s highly regrettable that a majority of Member States seems to have voted in favor of duties. There is no injury to European “manufacturers”. A closer look at the market shows that these manufacturers, many of which import components from China at a very large scale, are thriving. These duties are nothing but protectionism and will seriously damage over 150 European SMEs and penalize millions of European citizens. Last week, in two different letters to the Commission, 60 importing SMEs, supported by 27 other European companies in the business as well as four MEPs from different political parties appealed to Commissioner Malmstrom to reconsider the duties, arguing they went against Union interest.”

Publication in EU’s Official Journal

What happens next is that ultimately on 19 January, 2019 (or earlier) definitive anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures imposed by the European Commission on the import of electric bicycles from China together with the dumping duty percentages and the targeted companies in China, will be announced and published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The will come into force one day later.

Anti-circumvention measures likely

Once the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties have been officially imposed LEVA-EU will consult with the EU importers on the next steps. But the EU Association for Light Electric Vehicles already notes that “Potential measures will open the door to anti-circumvention, which would cause even more damage to the European electric bike business.”

EBMA: no need for any circumvention practices in the first place

On that note the European Bicycle Manufacturers’ Association (EBMA), that instigated the anti-dumping proceedings on e-bikes imported from China, told Bike Europe “We will do whatever it takes to avoid the illegal circumvention of the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties by Chinese producers. But most importantly, there is absolutely no need for any circumvention practices in the first place. There are hundreds of SME e-bike producers in the EU that would welcome orders from traders and importers with open arms and EU consumers can benefit from high quality e-bikes with a lower carbon footprint at competitive prices. ”

There are already signs popping up of Chinese producers preparing dumping duty circumventing practices. In particular as high dumping duties are triggering e-bike producers and exporters in China to search for creative ‘solutions’ to outrun these extra duties.