IN BRIEF
The European Cycling Industries (ECI) association, which represents cycling businesses at European level across the whole supply chain, has published a manifesto against non-compliant e-bikes. It is asking the Commission, the European Parliament and the Member States to ban the sale of tampering kits throughout the Union, to enforce market surveillance uniformly and to create a European database on the impact of these vehicles. It also wants online marketplaces to be held liable for the illegal products they sell.
Tampered e-bikes and tampering kits are in the sights of the European bicycle industry. On 29 September, from Brussels, the European Cycling Industries association published a “Manifesto for a Safe and Compliant EU Market”, addressed to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Member States. The full text is available on ECI’s website.
Tampering kits: four demands to the EU institutions
The manifesto sets out four demands. First, ban the sale of tampering kits for electrically power-assisted cycles (EPACs) throughout the Union: according to ECI, these kits make it possible to exceed the limits that apply to bicycles and undermine the enforcement of the European regulatory framework. Second, create a European database on the impact of non-compliant EPACs, both on the market and on road safety. The manifesto also calls for market surveillance rules to be applied consistently across the EU single market. Finally, put local enforcement at the centre and give authorities the means to recognise a non-compliant EPAC.
Online marketplaces on the front line
A large part of the text targets online sales. ECI is asking for marketplaces to be legally recognised as economic operators, and therefore directly co-liable when they sell or facilitate the distribution of tampering kits, of digital services that lift the legal speed or power limits, or of EPACs that circumvent the EN15194 standard. They should also quickly remove identified non-compliant products and prevent them from being listed again.
For direct-to-consumer deliveries, the manifesto proposes that fulfilment centres and postal carriers be treated as importers by default, in order to strengthen the traceability and liability of sellers based outside the Union. ECI relies on a figure from the European Parliament: 4.6 billion low-value e-commerce items entered the Union in 2024, 91% of which came from China, almost twice as many as in 2023.
An industry that claims 1.3 million jobs
To support its case, ECI points to the weight of the sector: according to the manifesto, the European bicycle industry provides 1.3 million jobs and contributes €21 billion to the EU’s GDP, with more than 1,000 SMEs in the supply chain. The text cites several existing regulations, including the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and the Digital Services Act, and asks that the future European Product Act strengthen their enforcement. The manifesto also puts forward French law as an example for the Member States: since 1999, Article L317-1 of the French Highway Code has prohibited the tampering of any motor vehicle, including electrically power-assisted bicycles, which, according to the text, has in effect banned the sale of e-bike tampering kits in the country.
Alongside this, ECI renewed the industry’s voluntary commitment against tampering and published a technical position paper which, according to the association, sets out what effective anti-tampering protection must provide. “The 2021 commitment established that this industry does not accept tampering,” said Paul Walsh, CEO of ECI.
