Staggered e-bike part imports classified as complete bicycles

Importers cannot escape the anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese electric bicycles by splitting complete bicycles into staggered part shipments.Europa The General Court holds that Rule 2(a) of the General Rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature classifies the parts as complete electric bicycles presented unassembled or disassembled where objective factors show they form a wholeEuropa, even if the declarations are spread over several monthsEuropa.

The case arose from 27 import declarations lodged between 22 January 2019 and 27 April 2021 by Logwin Air + Ocean Belgium on behalf of Prestige Rijwielen, covering frames, forks, motors and other electric-bicycle parts bought from two China-based companies and declared as parts and accessories under CN heading 8714. Definitive anti-dumping and countervailing duties on electric bicycles originating in China, falling under CN subheading 8711 60 10, had taken effect on 19 January 2019; parts under heading 8714 were not subject to those duties. The customs authorities grouped the declarations into six sets by matching invoice reference numbers, each set allegedly enabling complete bicycles to be assembled, and the European Public Prosecutor's Office brought criminal proceedings and the customs administration brought civil duty claims for more than EUR 2.9 million in evaded duties. The Antwerp Court of First Instance convicted Prestige Rijwielen and ZG in June 2024 and ordered payment of the evaded duties. Both sides appealed to the hof van beroep Antwerpen, which referred the classification question.

The decisive criterion for tariff classification is, as a rule, the objective characteristics and properties of the goods as defined by the heading terms and the section or chapter notes, assessed at the time of customs clearance. Rule 2(a) treats a reference to an article as including that article complete, presented unassembled or disassembledEuropa. Its wording sets no time limit within which components must be presentedEuropa, and the split-consignment Additional Notes to Sections XVI and XVII of the Combined Nomenclature show that simultaneous presentation is not in every case an essential conditionEuropa: a declarant may declare parts of a machine spread over time under the complete machine's heading where they possess its essential characteristicsEuropa.

Previous judgments mentioning simultaneous presentation (Osram, Develop Dr. Eisbein, X C-107/22) did not make that point the subject of the reference, and X itself clarified that separate declarations cannot in themselves preclude classification as a disassembled article where other objective factors at clearance show the goods form a whole intended for later assemblyEuropa. Any other reading would let importers choose the most favourable classification by the simple manipulation of splitting declarations, contrary to ease of verification and legal certainty. Simultaneous presentation is therefore only one indication among others, not a necessary and sufficient conditionEuropa.

Applied to the facts as premised by the referring court — same declarant, same consignee, same customs office, invoices from two suppliers in different containers over up to several months, ownership with the consignee at release, matching invoice references, quantities matching complete bicycles, and no more complete-bicycle imports — the parts must be classified as electric bicycles presented in a disassembled or unassembled state under a single tariff heading, provided objective factors show they form a whole comprising all essential componentsEuropa. That assessment, and costs, remain for the referring court.

Legal basis: Rule 2(a) of the General Rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 (Regulations 2018/1602, 2019/1776, 2020/1577); CN headings 8711, 8711 60 10 and 8714; Additional Notes to Sections XVI and XVII; the anti-dumping and countervailing duties on electric bicycles originating in China (Implementing Regulations (EU) 2019/73, 2019/72 and 2025/120); X (C-107/22).