Being successful in the bike business in Europe requires detailed knowledge of European laws and regulations for bicycles and bike products. Anti-dumping and anti-circumvention duties, CEN safety standards or the Generalized System of Preferences can have a huge impact on the success of a business. Here Bike Europe provides a comprehensive list of the current legislation and trade regulations in place, and important definitions.
MONTREUIL, France - French authorities have uncovered a vast financial fraud network in a large-scale investigation that involved over 70,000 Chinese-made e-bikes across six storage sites in the country. The losses amount to €6 million.
LONDON, England - The UK's Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has recommended that anti-dumping duties on bicycles and certain bicycle components imported from China remain in force until 30 August 2029. While the UK government could technically reject the TRA's advice, the move signals strong continuity with EU trade policy, where similar measures remain in place.
BERLIN, Germany - E-bikes are the spearhead of electromobility in Europe. Over the past 10 years, e-bikes have fundamentally transformed the European mobility market. At the same time, stakeholders have become more diverse. The German research institute zNT assessed the discussion on the regulatory framework for e-bikes and concluded: if you want to change the regulations, you must not only provide technical arguments, but also prove that what has been achieved will not be jeopardised.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - In a last-minute amendment speed pedelecs are excluded from the imposition of new EU regulations aimed at making the automotive sector more sustainable. "This vote aligns with our position and marks a significant step toward a more coherent and efficient regulatory framework for the e-bike sector," writes industry confederation CONEBI in a first response.
LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Chinese e-bikes have once again been implemented in a customs fraud case involving the evasion of duties when importing products into the EU market. Under the code-name Calypso, a complex scheme was exposed which led to raids across several EU member states. The total damage of the activities under investigation is estimated at approximately €700 million, although it is unclear how much of this is directly attributed to e-bike fraud.
BRUSSELS, Belgium — "The legal equivalence with bicycles laid the strong foundation of the success of the e-bike," claimed German trade association ZIV earlier this year. At the same time, it proposed imposing additional technical restrictions on e-bikes and dividing e-bikes into two categories governed by separate legal frameworks. LEVA-EU refutes this claim in a response, calling it "unfounded" and has repeatedly called for the creation of a dedicated LEV regulatory framework instead of following a "narrow industrial agenda."
MONTREUIL, France - French authorities have uncovered a vast financial fraud network in a large-scale investigation that involved over 70,000 Chinese-made e-bikes across six storage sites in the country. The losses amount to €6 million.
LONDON, England - The UK's Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has recommended that anti-dumping duties on bicycles and certain bicycle components imported from China remain in force until 30 August 2029. While the UK government could technically reject the TRA's advice, the move signals strong continuity with EU trade policy, where similar measures remain in place.
LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Chinese e-bikes have once again been implemented in a customs fraud case involving the evasion of duties when importing products into the EU market. Under the code-name Calypso, a complex scheme was exposed which led to raids across several EU member states. The total damage of the activities under investigation is estimated at approximately €700 million, although it is unclear how much of this is directly attributed to e-bike fraud.
WEXFORD, Ireland - Irish Customs Authorities have announced the seizure of over 4,000 e-bikes and a handful of e-scooters following targeted searches at two different warehouses in Ireland. According to authorities, the e-mobility vehicles - worth an estimated €4.5 million in retail value - were illegally imported to the European Union.
As the dust settles after December 13, 2024 - of course you all know by now that's the date when the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) came into effect - numerous ambiguities remain. Flaws, gaps, and even loopholes are crying out for more clarity. At the time of writing this blog, we are still awaiting the European Commission's guidance document, which is expected to provide some of this much-needed clarity.
Once upon a time, back when I was just a young lad, there was a song my brothers and I occasionally heard on the radio - a song that seemed to cast a spell over us. We didn't know what it was about, nor could we name the band, but something about it was almost magical. And this was before we'd even seen the music video! That song became iconic - a symbol of our youth - resonating with us deeply despite remaining a mystery for years.
I'm writing this blog while sitting on a train to Amsterdam. Once I arrive and walk to my destination, I'll need to watch out for a fairly recent phenomenon: fatbikes. I live in a quiet little village, so I thought it wasn't that big of a deal. But whenever I come to Amsterdam, I suddenly understand the alarming Dutch news headlines much better. These things can be dangerous!
As I wrote in one of my earlier blogs, the upcoming General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is food for many more blogs to come. It contains many provisions that go far beyond the current EU General Product Safety Directive (GPSD). In this blog, I would like to draw attention to a new obligation that is introduced in the GPSR: accident reporting.
