The European Commission will decide to extend the restrictions on steel imports in force until June 30, 2021, following an additional investigation that begins today. This investigation was initiated following a request from twelve EU Member States.
The Commission will, in its investigation, determine, in line with EU and WTO regulations, whether safeguards are still needed to prevent or eliminate serious damage to the EU steel industry.
The investigation will be completed before the expiration of the existing protective measure on June 30, 2021.
All stakeholders have 15 days to express their views, and subsequently they will be able to comment on the materials of other parties.
As a reminder, the European Commission introduced a temporary safeguard measure on imports of certain steel products in July 2018. This measure was aimed at preventing economic damage to steel producers in the EU, given the risk of further increases in imports associated, in particular, with the imposition of trade restrictions by the US on imports of steel and aluminum.
As a restrictive measure for various countries exporting steel to the European Union, quotas have been established, after exceeding which, a 25% duty is charged on imports.
The Commission has twice extended the measure (in October 2019 and July 2020). It recently adapted tariff quota volumes to reflect the UK's exit from the EU customs union on January 1, 2021.
