The EU Tariff against Chinese Bicycles May Extend to 2016

The European Union may extend its punitive anti-dumping tariff on bicycles imported from China to 2016, reported Beijing Business Today on July 6.

Chinese bicycles and bicycles parts exported to the European Union have been facing a 48.5 percent anti-dumping duty for 17 years.

It is reported that an E.U.-based industrial association has urged the European Commission to extend the existing anti-dumping measures by five years. The European Commission has to decide before July 15 whether to review the proposal to extend the anti-dumping duty.

Min Sen, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said that the European Union set the trade barrier 17 year ago, claiming that China was a non-market economy country.

"It seems that the anti-dumping period may be extended to 22 years. The discriminative trade barrier has severely blocked Chinese products' access to the European market," Min said.

Around 30 million bicycles are sold in the European Union annually, while China's bicycle exports to that market were less than 700,000.