The European Commission says it is adding a new annex to the existing regulation regarding safeguard measures on imports of certain steel products.
The decision has been taken following a request from a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel in 2022. This stated that the EU should bring its definitive safeguard measure into conformity with the Agreement on Safeguards and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994).
Kallanish notes that the addition of the annex to the original 2018 regulation does not bring any significant changes to the existing safeguard measures. The annex includes data and details taken in consideration by the European Commission during the original investigation prior to 2018, confirming the fact that main exporting countries such as Russia, China and Turkey increased their sales to Europe while they were reducing exports to other third countries.
The European Commission explains that the annex was added to bring “the original measure into conformity with WTO rules in those instances where the panel had found inconsistencies, and inviting interested parties to submit comments”.
The requests made by the WTO panel were generated by a formal complaint lodged by Turkey back in March 2020. In addition to requesting recommendations, Turkey asked the WTO to suggest that the EU revoke the safeguard measures. However, the trade organisation declined to do so.
Emanuele Norsa Italy
