EU kicks Chinese and Thai bikes from GSP

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Good news fort the European bicycle industry: Brian Montgomery, chairman of the European Bicycle Manufacturers Association (EBMA) has been pushing for several years to cut the product categories bicycles, bicycle parts and bicycle accessories from the Community’s generalized system of preferences (GSP). It was created in 1971 and grants ‘trade preferences to developing countries, in the framework of its scheme of general tax preferences’. In other words: Instead of the usual import tariff of 15 % these countries were allotted a reduced tariff of 10.5 %. The GSP system has recently been reviewed for the next ten-year period from 2006 to 2015. the new guideline was published in the Journal of the European Union under ‘L 169’. According to this guideline the products categories bicycles, bicycle parts and bicycle accessories (KN-codes 8711 to 8714) made in China and Thailand are taken out of the GSP system. With this decision, bicycle products from China are hit twice within short notice: first with the forecasted increase of the EU anti dumping tariff from the current 30,6 to 48.5 % and secondly with the end of the reduced EU import tariff of 10.5 going up to the regular 15 %.