Bike exporters bring anti-tariff case to EU

Chinese bicycle makers will urge the European Union on Friday to end tariffs meant to combat alleged flooding of the market with two-wheeled imports priced artificially low.

"Based on our request, the European Commission will have an overall review on China's bicycle industry and imports to Europe," said James Searles, a partner in the Brussels office of law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP who will defend the Chinese manufacturers at Friday's hearing of the EU's executive body.

Representatives of the manufacturers said an EU decision to extend anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese-made bikes until 2016 was based on "wrong methodologies" for measuring the imports.

The flap over bicycles follows a September announcement by the commission to begin an anti-dumping investigation into China's solar-panel industry. It also comes amid complaints from China and other emerging-market countries that the world's developed nations are relying on protectionist steps to counter the impact of the global economic slowdown.

Zhang Peisheng, of the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, said Chinese bike makers being probed by the EU have cooperated and acted responsibly.

The anti-dumping tariffs of up to 48.5 percent have led to huge losses for Chinese bike exporters, but the industry has also been consolidating to increase efficiency, said Zhang, who has been monitored EU investigations into Chinese bicycle exports for nearly 20 years.

He said he hopes the bike exporters will be treated fairly during and after Friday's hearing, and that the EU will determine that the tariffs are no longer warranted.

Song Bo, a spokesman for the China Bicycle Association, said the anti-dumping tariffs have also harmed Europe's bike-riding public.

"European consumers like Chinese bicycles," he said. "It is also unfair to them, if the price of products is overly high in the European market."

After the commission hearing, representatives of the Chinese bike exporters association and the import-export chamber will meet with counterparts from EU member states.