Two EU importers charged with €6.6 million E-Bike Fraud

Recently the Court of Antwerp indicted two companies who imported e-bikes from China via Belgium. The bikes were imported in separate parts in an alleged attempt to evade anti-dumping duties due on fully assembled bikes.

If found guilty, the defendants face between four months to five years in prison, along with a fine of five to 10 times the evaded customs duties.

This is likely to prompt HMRC to review their risk profile on importers of this type of goods, so they can issue audits to ensure declarations are being made correctly.

What is Anti-dumping duty?

Anti-dumping duty is a duty on imports. Its designed to protect UK industry against damage caused by the dumping of goods at prices much lower than the fair market value causing a disadvantage to UK manufacturers.

Each of the measures cover specified goods originating in, or exported from, named countries or exporters and is charged in addition to other duties that apply to the imported goods.

The current Anti-dumping duty rate on imports of e-bikes into the UK is 62.10% plus 6% import duty so even errors on a low number of imports could create a large customs debt.