The European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) has voted to approve the proposed new steel trade regime and start interinstitutional negotiations between Parliament, Council and Commission. Unused quota volume carryover to the following quarter has been rejected, Kallanish notes.
The proposal to implement the melted and poured rule “only where justified by circumvention risks” was also rejected. INTA voted to maintain the original wording that gives the European Commission the power to lay down “the detailed rules for identifying the country in which the steel used in the production of the product is melted and poured and to amend Annex II to this Regulation”.
The total proposed annual tariff quota volume remains at 18,345,922 tonnes. Russia and Belarus product remains banned.
The committee approved the motion for the Commission to engage in “proactive and transparent communication with trade partners to clearly explain the reasons for adopting this measure and to identify ways to maintain equal and fair conditions so as not to disrupt the existing spirit of genuine trade cooperation, particularly with existing and future FTA partners affected by this instrument.”
However, it rejected the proposal that trading partners that have free trade agreements with the EU should receive preferential quota distribution. It also rejected the exclusion of Switzerland from the application of the out-of-quota duty.
This, however, seemed to be contradicted by European trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič who told CNBC TV18 on Tuesday after the EU-India FTA was concluded that India, as an FTA partner, would have a privileged position in negotiations over access to the EU steel market.
The new trade regulation proposal raises the big question of how quota allocations will be negotiated with the EU’s multitude of FTA partners. This is likely to be a highly complex procedure since FTAs protect preferential trade with the EU and will be very difficult to change, Van Bael & Bellis trade lawyer Yuriy Rudyuk pointed out last month.
INTA also rejected the proposal that a defined minimum share of value added, components or materials should be sourced from within the Union for publicly funded projects, and that, in general public procurement, contracting authorities should give preference to steel and steel-containing EU-produced products.
The proposed regulation will now be voted on by the European Parliament in plenary next month, which will either endorse the committee’s decision to enter into negotiations or refer the report back to the committee.
