Bicycle firms call for fairness from EU

Representatives of Chinese bicycle manufacturers will call at a European Commission hearing on Friday for Brussels to end high-rate anti-dumping tariffs imposed on the industry's exports to European Union member states.

The representatives said Brussels' decision to extend anti-dumping tariffs against Chinese bicycle exporters until 2016 had resulted from the "wrong methodologies" Brussels used to measure China's exports and protect the bicycle industry in the EU.

The decision to extend the tariffs was made last October after Brussels had levied anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese exporters for 19 years.

"We made the request to organize such a hearing, and the European Commission is ready to have an overall review of China's bicycle industry and its exports to Europe," said James Searles, a partner at Brussels-based law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP, which is representing the Chinese side at the hearing.

"I hope the European Commission will realize all the changes in the industry and market both in China and Europe and make a fair and objective judgment this time," Searles said in an interview with China Daily.

The hearing was organized after Brussels announced in September it would launch an anti-dumping investigation into China's solar panel industry. And it came hot on the heels of mounting complaints from developing economies such as China that developed economies have resorted to too many protectionist measures amid the global economic slowdown.

The commission's agency responsible for trade defense investigations was unavailable for comment on the hearing.

Searles said Brussels had used "wrong methodologies" to measure China's bicycle exports to Europe, which account for just 3 percent of bicycle imports by EU member states.

The commission has considered all types of bicycles as the same product despite the fact that different types of bikes are distinct from each other in terms of performance, use and price.

"This practice has caused unfair results for the different exports. The practice is too generalized," said Searles.

He added that since the first anti-dumping measures were adopted against the Chinese bicycles in 1993, the European bicycle industry has transformed into an assembly industry, with most of the major parts being imported.

As a result, Chinese industry representatives said they don't see any reason to maintain the current anti-dumping measures, which were aimed to protect the overall production process of the bicycle industry in the EU.

Zhang Peisheng, a senior official at the China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, said the anti-dumping measures, with a current anti-dumping duty rate of 48.5 percent, have resulted in huge losses for Chinese exporters, but the industry in China has also been streamlining.

"Chinese companies are exporting more and more bicycle components to Europe. However, the EU's protectionist measures and anti-dumping tariffs are aimed at whole bicycle imports," said Zhang. "It is not logical for the EU to impose such measures."

Zhang expressed his hope that Chinese bicycle manufacturers could be granted fair and equal opportunities after this hearing and hoped the EU would no longer find it necessary to continue its measures.

Song Bo, director of the information department of China Bicycle Association, said that the high anti-dumping tariff also affected European consumers.

"European consumers like Chinese bicycles, so it is unfair to them if their price is too high."

Liu Jia in Brussels contributed to the story

Contact the writer at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn.