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BRUSSELS, Belgium – With the start of 2010 tensions inside the international bike sector are rising on the question what will happen with the current anti-dumping duties on bikes made in China and Vietnam. Will the 48.5% dumping duty on bikes made in China and the 34.5% duty on the ones made in Vietnam be dropped as they expire by mid July?

Currently there’s a lot of talk inside the international bike sector on the anti-dumping measures for bikes. As the official expiry date of the measures against bikes made in China and Vietnam and exported to the 27 EU member states is July 15, 2010 there’s lots of speculation on whether they will be dropped altogether or to continue.

At this moment an answer on that question is everybody’s guess. However, what can be clarified is what is to happen now that the expiry date is only six months away. Next to that Bike Europe probed the minds of company executives at a recent Dutch industry get-together.

Notification five to nine months before expiry

Before the current anti-dumping measures expire next July, the European Commission has to publish a ’notice of impending expiry’ in the Official Journal of the European Union. In other dumping matters such a notice has been issued five to nine months before the actual expiry.

EU’s official rules & regulations stipulate that: "A notice of impending expiry shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities at an appropriate time in the final year of the period of application of the measures. Thereafter, the Community producers shall, no later than three months before the end of the five-year period, be entitled to lodge a review request. A notice announcing the actual expiry of measures pursuant to this paragraph shall also be published."

The notice of impending expiry is not yet published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Bike Europe is of course keeping a close eye on all the publications of the EU’s Official Journal and will report immediately when this ‘notice’ is published.

Once the notice of expiry is published the BIG question is whether the European Bicycle Manufacturers’ Association (EBMA) that through complaints instigated the anti-dumping measures on Chinese bikes and parts as well as Vietnam made bikes currently enforced by the European Union, will go for another five year term of dumping duties.

There’s a good chance that the European Bicycle Manufacturers’ Association will do just that. In particular because at this moment the minds and moods in Brussels are favourable for such a review and for an outcome that is in favour of the European bike industry. The main reason for that is the huge and sill growing trade deficit the European Union has with China. Next to that there are in other industry sectors dumping duties implemented on goods imported from China; like recently in the shoe sector.

According to an executive from a European bike manufacturer the mood in Brussels is currently quite the opposite as some years ago when the European Commission issued a Green Paper aimed at re-examining the EU's trade defence mechanisms, including all dumping measures. It was part of Directory General (DG) Trade’s strategy to ensure European competitiveness in a changing global economy, with a surge of Chinese exports and job losses caused by the outsourcing of production by European countries to Asia. The at that time trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, instigated the Green Paper which ultimately was rejected by the European Council and Parliament.

• For related items on Dumping Duties, click here
• For related items on Peter Mandelson, click here
• For related items on EBMA, click here