EU countervailing duties on Chinese EVs in 2026

The European Commission closed its anti-subsidy investigation into battery electric vehicles from China in October 2024. The outcome was Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2754, which imposed definitive countervailing duties from 30 October 2024 for a five year period. These are anti-subsidy duties rather than anti-dumping duties. The distinction matters, because the two rest on different findings and come up for review on different timetables. Duty rates by producer: - Tesla (Shanghai), individually examined: 7.8% - BYD Group: 17.0% - Geely Group: 18.8% - Other producers that cooperated with the investigation: 20.7% - SAIC Group: 35.3% - All other Chinese producers: 35.3% Each of those sits on top of the 10% MFN rate the EU charges on passenger cars, so the total lands between 17.8% at the bottom and 45.3% at the top. A producer only receives its own rate if the consignment travels with a valid commercial invoice carrying the signed declaration the regulation prescribes. Where that document is missing, customs applies the highest rate in the table. The price undertaking route, open since January 2026: On 12 January 2026 the Commission published a guidance document setting out how it will assess price undertaking offers from Chinese exporters. An undertaking is a binding commitment not to sell below an agreed minimum import price, normally paired with an annual volume cap. The guidance also asks an exporter to address its sales channels, cross compensation between models, and planned investment inside the EU. Where the Commission accepts an offer, that exporter ships free of the countervailing duty for as long as it honours the terms. The first acceptance was announced on 10 February 2026 and covers Volkswagen (Anhui) for its CUPRA Tavascan, with a minimum price, a volume limit and committed EU projects attached. The Commission has said it will assess every offer against the same legal criteria. If an undertaking is breached it can be withdrawn and the duty reimposed retroactively, so an exemption is conditional rather than permanent. The practical consequence for importers is that the duty on a Chinese built BEV is no longer a property of the badge on the bonnet. It depends on whether that specific producer, and in some cases that specific model, was covered by an accepted undertaking on the day the goods were declared. Confirm the position before you price a unit rather than after it lands. Production moving into Europe: Several Chinese manufacturers have chosen to build inside the bloc rather than absorb the duty. BYD is constructing a plant in Hungary and SAIC has been assessing European sites. Vehicles assembled within the EU fall outside the scope of the measure altogether. HS code affected: 870380, battery electric vehicles. Legal challenge: China took the definitive duties to the World Trade Organization in dispute DS630. The panel was composed on 13 October 2025, and in April 2026 its chair told the Dispute Settlement Body that both parties had asked for substantially more time to file submissions. No panel report has been issued. The duties remain collectable while the case runs.

What to re-check, and when

This page is about the EU countervailing duties on Chinese built electric vehicles, and no published instrument names a closing date for the measure itself, so this site records no scheduled end for it: it runs until the authority behind it revokes or amends it, which is a finding about the measure rather than a gap in the record, while any temporary provision sitting alongside it carries its own date in the passage above that describes it, and what is dated below is the reading rather than the measure.

The claims on this page about the EU countervailing duties on Chinese built electric vehicles were last read on 28 August 2026, against the sources it names, and what to check first is the sentence under this one.

The moving part on this page is the undertaking list. Check whether the producer you are importing from has had an offer accepted, withdrawn or refused since this date, because that single fact decides whether the duty applies at all.