The value U.K. bike market is more than the combined bike market of the 23 smallest EU countries. There will be inevitable teething problems but I think they will be short term.
Looking at shimano which by value is 80% of worldwide bike components, after the EU the U.K. is the second biggest market just pipping the US. (Though the combined sales to all Asian and pacific countries exceeds the eu, they are all separate markets).
It may be there will be some manufacturers who decide to sell exclusively to the eu and not the rest of the world, but I find it unlikely.
Thing is, this isn't going to be a problem for Shimano, or Campag, or any big name. The market in the UK is big, they are big players, *AND* they do not sell direct to the consumer. If you sell through a distributor, then chances are that the £135 quid or whatever HMRC are charging, is not going to be a major hurdle. Annoying yes, but bigger than the total value of your sales to the UK? no.
The new rules are awkward for anyone who sells direct to the consumer, and has a small turnover. Such as [url]https://www.rusjan.eu/?_=_[/img] bespoke bikpacking bags. A 13 saddle bag is €220. If you are only making one sale to the UK per year, then paying £135 to register with HMRC is not worth it. How many do you have to sell per year to make it worth while?
Rose obviously think they do not sell enough to the UK to make it worth swallowing these costs. No doubt other companies have reached the same conclusion.
The target of these new rules from an EU point of view was to get a slice of the pie from all that small cheap stuff we buy from aliexpress and the like. Unfortunately they have kinda shot the smaller businesses at the same time. The simple solution for many of these small sellers for selling to the EU will be to list the item on ebay or amazon, and the online market place will do everything for them, they print the label that ebay/amazon etc... give them, job done.
The rule were written for a trading block of half a billion rich people. They do not scale to 65 million people who's wealth is dropping...
Oh, and if you think this is all complicated and confusing now.
From 16th of July 2021, the EU is going to change the rules about how the CE mark works. The basic principle being that all good that require a CE mark, will also require a registered responsible agent that is permanently within the EU. The idea being that even if you make your bike lights in china, and sell direct to consumers within the EU, you will be required to have someone within the EU who is legally responsible for the accreditation of the CE marked item. Not an issue if you're a manufacturer in China, and you sell your products to Farnell, who then sell them to the end user, Farnell becomes that responsible party. But if you are say an Australian bike light manufacturer, and you sell direct to EU consumers, you have to have an agent resident within the EU to act on your behalf.
Oh, and as for what the fuck the UK is doing with it's alternative to a CE mark... and whether anyone can be arsed faffing about jumping through those hoops in addition to the hoops necessary for the CE marking... only time will tell...
J