handlebar tape is not illegal.
that rule says that you can't add tape so that a handlebar meets the 3:1 rule. which is to say, if an untaped handlebar doesn't meet 3:1, but a taped handlebar does meet it - it doesn't pass.
confusion is ordinary, since the rules are often written to be strange, broad, curiously translated, and often in ways that conflict. basically the rules try to provide a template by which commissaires make reasonable decisions. no commissaire will prevent you from using a bike because you have taped your handlebars.