Imported parts can now be taxed as complete e-bikes, LEVA-EU warns, following a judgment of the General Court of the European Union (Case T‑529/25) that allows customs authorities to classify e-bike parts imported in separate shipments, even months apart, as complete e-bikes.
Where the parts come from China, they can then be subject to the anti-dumping and countervailing duties on complete e-bikes, of up to 70.1% and 17.2% respectively. LEVA-EU warns that the ruling creates serious legal uncertainty for companies that assemble e-bikes in Europe. And the impact goes well beyond e-bikes: any company that imports components and assembles them in Europe could face the same scrutiny.
The case concerned a Belgian importer that imported e-bike parts in 27 shipments between 2019 and 2021. Customs matched the parts into sets of complete e-bikes and claimed more than EUR 2.9 million in duties. Answering a question from the Antwerp Court of Appeal, the General Court ruled that parts must be classified as complete e-bikes whenever “objective factors” show that they form a whole, even if they were not presented to customs together.
In doing so, the Court departed from case law going back to 1974 and from the Opinion of its own Advocate General, who had concluded the opposite in June 2026.
Europe does not produce enough motors, batteries, frames and other components to supply its own e-bike production, so assemblers have to import a large share of them. The judgment does not say which components count as “essential”, how far apart shipments can be, or how a company can obtain certainty in advance. Customs can reassess past imports for several years, and criminal proceedings are possible.
LEVA-EU fears that genuine European assemblers will bear the brunt, while operators who deliberately disguise complete bikes as parts may simply adapt their paperwork.
LEVA-EU Managing Director Annick Roetynck says:
“European e-bike makers cannot build bikes without imported components, and this ruling leaves them without clear rules on when those components will be taxed as finished bikes. If the European Commission believes complete e-bikes are being disguised as parts, it has a proper instrument for that: an anti-circumvention investigation, with clear criteria and exemptions for genuine assemblers. Leaving it to customs officers and criminal courts to decide case by case, after the fact, puts the whole sector at risk.“
LEVA-EU says the ruling is not limited to e-bikes. The rule the Court interpreted applies to every product in the EU customs tariff. Any industry that assembles in Europe from imported parts, where the finished product faces higher duties than its components, such as electric cars, machinery or household appliances, could be affected.
The judgment can still exceptionally be reviewed by the Court of Justice of the European Union if the First Advocate General proposes this within one month of the judgment, where there is a serious risk to the unity or consistency of EU law. LEVA-EU considers that this judgment meets that test.
