Brussels, 29 September - European Cycling Industries (ECI) is calling on European policymakers to take stronger action against illegal and non-compliant e-bikes, including an EU-wide ban on tampering kits, stronger enforcement of market surveillance rules and greater accountability for products sold through online marketplaces.
The call is at the heart of ECI's new Manifesto for a Safe and Compliant EU Market, which urges European institutions, national governments and other stakeholders to join the cycling industry in protecting consumers, road safety and Europe's cycling industry from the growing challenge posed by non-compliant products.
The message of the Manifesto is simple: the cycling industry is taking responsibility and is asking Europe's institutions and wider stakeholder community to take a stance.
Alongside the Manifesto, ECI has renewed the industry's Self-Commitment for the Prevention of Tampering of E-Bikes and published a new Position Paper setting out, for the first time, a detailed technical benchmark for what effective anti-tampering protection requires.
Protecting a European e-bike success story
E-bikes have been one of the great success stories of European cycling over the past decade, transforming how millions of people travel and helping to drive the growth of the cycling industry. In Germany, more than half of all bicycle sales were electric in 2025, with a fleet now exceeding 17 million units in circulation. In the Netherlands, e-bikes account for more than 70% of total market value.
That success needs to be protected. Illegal and non-compliant e-bikes that do not meet European safety and technical requirements — or that have been modified to operate outside them — can create risks for riders and other road users. They can also damage confidence in e-bikes more broadly: when an incident involves an illegal or modified vehicle, the distinction between that vehicle and a compliant e-bike can easily be lost in the public debate.
There is also a fundamental question of fair competition. Responsible manufacturers invest significantly in product safety, testing, certification, documentation and compliance with European rules. They should not have to compete with operators selling products that avoid those costs or fail to meet the same requirements.
The stakes extend well beyond individual companies. The EU cycling value chain — manufacturing, infrastructure, cycle tourism, rentals, cycle logistics and related services — supports 1.3 million jobs and contributes €21 billion to EU GDP, spanning over 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises. Protecting a safe and compliant e-bike market therefore means protecting consumers, confidence in e-bikes and a major European industrial ecosystem.
The Manifesto: a shared call to act
The Manifesto broadens the conversation beyond tampering to the wider problem of non-compliant products reaching European consumers, particularly through online marketplaces, where goods are frequently sold directly by operators established outside the EU with no identifiable actor within EU jurisdiction answerable for their compliance.
It is addressed deliberately to a wide constituency: EU and national policymakers, regional authorities, market surveillance, consumer organisations, insurers, platforms and associations from other product sectors facing the same structural gap. The problem is not specific to cycling, and the Manifesto is explicit that the response should not be either.
What ECI is asking for
- The Manifesto calls on the European Commission, the European Parliament and Member States to:
- Ban the sale of EPAC tampering kits across the EU.
- Build a European evidence base on the road-safety and economic impacts of non-compliant e-bikes.
- Strengthen and consistently enforce EU market surveillance rules, including for online sales.
- Invest in local enforcement, training and technical capacity so authorities can identify and act against the use of non-compliant e-bikes.
ECI notes that the cycling sector is committed to contribute its technical expertise to these initiatives to ensure cycling remains safe, affordable, and at reach for everyone.
The Self-Commitment and Position Paper: the industry's own step forward
Today, ECI members renew their self-commitment against tampering with a decisive addition.
The accompanying Position Paper sets out, in detail, what "state of the art" anti-tampering protection means in practice. Its annexes identify concrete measures manufacturers should implement, including cryptographically verified software updates with anti-rollback protection, secure component authentication between motor, controller and battery systems, sensor plausibility checks against multiple signals, tamper-resistant logging of critical parameter changes, and protected diagnostic and debug interfaces.
Equally importantly, the Paper identifies what does not meet that bar: user-accessible compliance changes through apps or service menus, simple on-bike unlocking via button combinations or default PINs, unsigned firmware, single-signal reliance, and protection that depends on obscurity alone.
"The 2021 commitment established that this industry does not accept tampering," said Paul Walsh, CEO of ECI. "We are taking it a step further with our related Position Paper. It gives manufacturers a concrete benchmark to design against, and it gives authorities and standardisation bodies a reference point for assessing whether a system is genuinely protected or just appears to be."
A timely contribution
The publication comes as the EU undertakes major reforms that directly address these questions; the forthcoming European Product Act could close the accountability gap for online sellers outside the EU, alongside the implementation of the General Product Safety Regulation and the Digital Services Act.
Work on the underlying standards is also advancing: 15194:2017+A1:2023 is under review for alignment with the Machinery Regulation, including cybersecurity requirements with anti-tampering implications, with publication expected in Q4 2026. A deeper revision is currently underway, building on CEN/TS 17831:2023.
