The Commission received from the parties listed in Tables 1 and 3 below requests for exemption with all the information required to determine that these were admissible in accordance with Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) No 88/97.

The parties requesting exemptions were given an opportunity to comment on the Commission's conclusions as for the admissibility of their requests.

In accordance with Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 88/97, pending a decision on the merits of requests from the parties requesting exemptions, the payment of the extended duty in respect of any imports of essential bicycle parts declared for free circulation by these parties was suspended as from the day on which the Commission received their requests.

The Commission established during this examination that the value of the parts originating in China constituted less than 60 % of the total value of the parts of all the bicycles assembled by each one of these parties. This was also the case for the majority of the assembled bicycles by each party.

Consequently, their assembly operations fall outside the scope of Article 13(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036.

For that reason, and in accordance with Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 88/97, the parties listed in Table 1 above should be exempted from the extended duty.

In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 88/97, the exemptions should take effect as from the date of receipt of the requests. The customs debts in respect of the extended duty from the parties requesting exemptions should therefore be considered void from the same date.

The parties requesting exemptions were informed of the Commission's conclusions on the merits of their requests and were given an opportunity to comment thereon.

In case of change in references, the party should provide all relevant information, in particular on any modification in its activities linked to assembly operations. Where appropriate, the Commission will update the references to such party.

The exempted parties listed in Table 2 below notified the Commission on changes in their references (names, legal forms and addresses). The Commission, after having examined the information submitted, concluded that those changes in no way affect the assembly operations with regard to the conditions of exemption set forth in Regulation (EC) No 88/97.

The examination of the merits of the request from the parties listed in Table 3 below is ongoing. Pending a decision on the merits of their requests, the payment of extended duty by these parties is suspended.

Since the suspensions apply only to the parties specifically referred to in Table 3 below, these parties should notify the Commission7 without delay of any changes to these (for instance following a change in the name, legal form or address or following the setting up of new assembly entities).

The Commission received from the party in question a request to withdraw the application for an exemption while the examination of its merits was ongoing and the payment of the extended duty was suspended.

The Commission accepted the withdrawal and consequently the suspension of the payment of the extended duty should be lifted. The extended duty should be collected as from the date of receipt of the request for exemption submitted by this party, namely the date on which the suspension took effect (23 September 2016).

The party was informed of the Commission's conclusions and was given an opportunity to comment thereon. No comments were submitted within the deadline.

The exempted party listed in Table 5 below notified the Commission the closing down of its activities and the renunciation of the exemption from the payment of extended duty.