Provisional EU duties on Chinese vehicles? Not for trucks, says the EU
“The product investigated is new battery electric vehicles, principally designed for the transport of nine or less persons, including the driver, propelled solely by one or more electric motors, regardless of the number of wheels set in motion”, said Olof Gill, Commission spokesperson for trade and agriculture to our sister magazine Sustainable Bus. “Light commercial vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, motorcycles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles are excluded from the scope of the investigation“.
On 12th June, the Commission stated that “has provisionally concluded that the battery electric vehicles (BEV) value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidisation, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers”. Therefore, the European Commission has pre-disclosed “the level of provisional countervailing duties it would impose on imports of battery electric vehicles (‘BEVs’) from China”.
“Should discussions with Chinese authorities not lead to an effective solution, these provisional countervailing duties would be introduced from 4 July by a guarantee (in the form to be decided by customs in each Member State)”. This is what emerged from the EU statements released in the last few days. The key question – for us – was to know whether heavy-duty vehicles would be affected by the above mentioned duties, or not.
Light- and heavy-duty vehicles are out of duties on Chinese products
So, our sister magazine Sustainable Bus asked the EU about that. “Duties on Chinese EVs will affect battery-electric vehicles ‘designed for the transport of nine or less persons, including the driver’, said Olof Gill, Commission spokesperson for trade and agriculture, to Sustainable Bus. “The product investigated is new battery electric vehicles, principally designed for the transport of nine or less persons, including the driver, propelled solely by one or more electric motors, regardless of the number of wheels set in motion”.
Moreover, Gill pointed out that “light commercial vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, motorcycles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles are excluded from the scope of the investigation“.
