European Commission looks to adjust steel safeguard measures

The European Commission (EC) has proposed an adjustment to the existing EU safeguard measures for steel, definitively imposed in February, Kallanish notes.

In a statement the EC says that it informed the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 14 August that the adjustments would make the measures “… more effective in compliance with WTO rules.”

This could be achieved by taking 3 steps, the EC says. The first would be to adjust the functioning of the quota for some products, including hot-rolled flat steel and steel intended for the automotive sector.  Updating the list of exclusions for developing countries on the basis of more recent imports statistics would be the second step. The third action would mean slowing down liberalisation of imports by reducing the pace of progressive increase of the import quotas from 5% to 3%.

The proposed adjustments will now be discussed with all affected WTO members, the EC says. Following these consultations, the adjustments will be submitted for approval to EU member states, so that they can become effective as of October 2019.