Fergus Randolph QC and Sarah Lee QC
On 30 September 2020, the Department for International Trade [“DIT”] published an update to its guidance on the UK’s trade remedies Brexit transition policy, concerning steel safeguard measures.
As noted in the guidance, the UK has committed to maintaining EU safeguard measures after the end of the transition period, where there is a UK interest in doing so. It will be recalled that safeguard measures temporarily restrict imports of specified goods to help relevant domestic industries adapt to new or temporary market conditions. Safeguard measures may be applied where there has been an unforeseen surge in imports which has caused or is causing serious injury to the relevant domestic industry.
The Trade Remedies Investigations Directorate [“TRID”] conducted a transition review in relation to various EU steel safeguard measures to determine whether it would be appropriate to retain them after the end of the transition period. It identified 19 product categories covered by the EU’s existing measures where UK production existed. It therefore determined that the measures in question should “be transitioned in order to provide continuity to UK producers.” The remaining 7 product categories covered by the EU’s existing measures did not have a requisite UK interest because there was no UK production of the products and accordingly tariff rate quotas [“TRQs”] on those products will cease as of 23:00 (London time) 31 December 2020. A table with the different product categories and their treatment is set out below.
Product category number | Steel Product Categories subject to EU Safeguard Measures | Subject to UK Safeguard Measures? |
1 | Non-Alloy and Other Alloy Hot Rolled Sheets and Strips | Maintain |
2 | Non-Alloy and Other Alloy Cold Rolled Sheets | Maintain |
3A | Electrical Sheets (other than GOES) | Terminate |
3B | Electrical Sheets (other than GOES) | Terminate |
4A | Metallic Coated Sheets | Maintain |
4B | Metallic Coated Sheets | Maintain |
5 | Organic Coated Sheets | Maintain |
6 | Tin Mill products | Maintain |
7 | Non-Alloy and Other Alloy Quarto Plates | Maintain |
8 | Stainless Hot Rolled Sheets and Strips | Terminate |
9 | Stainless Cold Rolled Sheets and Strips | Terminate |
10 | Stainless Hot Rolled Quarto Plates | Terminate |
12 | Non-Alloy and Other Alloy Merchant Bars and Light Sections | Maintain |
13 | Rebars | Maintain |
14 | Stainless Bars and Light Sections | Maintain |
15 | Stainless Wire Rod | Maintain |
16 | Non-Alloy and Other Alloy Wire Rod | Maintain |
17 | Angles, Shapes and Sections of Iron or Non Alloy Steel | Maintain |
18 | Sheet Piling | Terminate |
19 | Railway Material | Maintain |
20 | Gas pipes | Maintain |
21 | Hollow sections | Maintain |
22 | Seamless Stainless Tubes and Pipes | Terminate |
24 | Other Seamless Tubes | Terminate |
25A | Large welded tubes | Maintain |
25B | Large welded tubes | Maintain |
26 | Other Welded Pipes | Maintain |
27 | Non-Alloy and other alloy cold finished bars | Maintain |
28 | Non-Alloy Wire | Maintain |
Insofar as concerns the 19 product categories for which the safeguard measures are to be retained, the DIT collected historic trade flow data between the period 2015-2017 in order to be able to re-calculate the relevant TRQs. Those recalculated TRQs are set out below:
Quarterly Volume of Country and Residual Tariff-Rate Quotas
Product Category Number | Product Category | Area/Country | Year 3 | |
From: 1/1/2021 To: 31/3/2021 (tonnes) | From: 1/4/2021 To: 30/6/2021 (tonnes) | |||
1 | Non Alloy and Other Alloy Hot Rolled Sheets and Strips | EU | 147,130 | 148,765 |
Turkey | 23,602 | 23,864 | ||
Other Countries | 46,033 | 46,544 | ||
2 | Non Alloy and Other Alloy Cold Rolled Sheets | EU | 69,037 | 69,804 |
South Korea | 9,392 | 9,496 | ||
India | 7,052 | 7,131 | ||
Other Countries | 25,994 | 26,283 | ||
4A | Metallic Coated Sheets | EU | 153,111 | 154,812 |
South Korea | 11,475 | 11,603 | ||
Other Countries | 58,957 | 59,612 | ||
4B | Metallic Coated Sheets | EU | 166,037 | 167,882 |
China | 30,355 | 30,693 | ||
South Korea | 13,761 | 13,914 | ||
Other Countries | 32,261 | 32,620 | ||
5 | Organic Coated Sheets | EU | 31,093 | 31,439 |
Other Countries | 1,063 | 1,075 | ||
6 | Tin Mill products | EU | 32,390 | 32,750 |
China | 3,842 | 3,885 | ||
Other Countries | 4,219 | 4,266 | ||
7 | Non Alloy and Other Alloy Quarto Plates | EU | 60,522 | 61,195 |
Ukraine | 7,810 | 7,896 | ||
Other Countries | 15,527 | 15,700 | ||
12 | Non Alloy and Other Alloy Merchant Bars and Light | EU | 48,392 | 48,930 |
Turkey | 11,278 | 11,403 | ||
Other Countries | 8,237 | 8,329 | ||
13 | Rebars | EU | 42,268 | 42,737 |
Turkey | 16,297 | 16,478 | ||
Ukraine | 11,274 | 11,399 | ||
Belarus | 8,249 | 8,341 | ||
Other Countries | 38,147 | 38,571 | ||
14 | Stainless Bars and Light Sections | EU | 11,675 | 11,805 |
Other Countries | 2,444 | 2,471 | ||
15 | Stainless Wire Rod | EU | 233 | 235 |
Taiwan | 59 | 60 | ||
USA | 35 | 35 | ||
South Korea | 26 | 27 | ||
Other Countries | 18 | 18 | ||
16 | Non Alloy and Other Alloy Wire Rod | EU | 63,925 | 64,635 |
Other Countries | 4,060 | 4,105 | ||
17 | Angles, Shapes and Sections of Iron or Non Alloy Steel | EU | 142,599 | 144,183 |
Other Countries | 21,136 | 21,370 | ||
19 | Railway Material | EU | 1,331 | 1,346 |
Other Countries | 430 | 434 | ||
20 | Gas pipes | Turkey | 13,527 | 13,678 |
EU | 6,686 | 6,760 | ||
India | 3,984 | 4,028 | ||
Other Countries | 1,481 | 1,498 | ||
21 | Hollow sections | Turkey | 32,387 | 32,746 |
EU | 10,966 | 11,088 | ||
Other Countries | 1,898 | 1,919 | ||
25A | Large Welded Tubes | Other Countries | 15,722 | 15,897 |
25B | Large Welded Tubes | EU | 17,022 | 17,211 |
Japan | 1,471 | 1,487 | ||
South Korea | 2,283 | 2,309 | ||
Turkey | 1,653 | 1,671 | ||
Other Countries | 1,850 | 1,871 | ||
26 | Other Welded Pipes | EU | 19,729 | 19,948 |
UAE | 11,720 | 11,850 | ||
Turkey | 7,767 | 7,853 | ||
Norway | 5,973 | 6,039 | ||
China | 5,002 | 5,058 | ||
Other Countries | 6,466 | 6,538 | ||
27 | Non-Alloy and other alloy cold finished bars | EU | 7,144 | 7,223 |
Turkey | 1,371 | 1,387 | ||
Russia | 714 | 722 | ||
Other Countries | 611 | 618 | ||
28 | Non Alloy Wire | EU | 24,773 | 25,048 |
Turkey | 4,336 | 4,384 | ||
China | 2,918 | 2,950 | ||
Thailand | 2,578 | 2,606 | ||
Other Countries | 1,900 | 1,921 |
Developing countries listed in the DIT review are not subject to these TRQs, except in relation to certain products produced in Brazil, China, India, Saudia Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, UAE and Vietnam.
For each of the product categories concerned, a part of each tariff rate quota will be allocated to the countries and territories specified. The remaining part of each tariff rate quota, shall be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, based on a tariff rate quota established equally for each quarter of the period of application. The drawings on each quarterly quota shall be stopped on the twentieth working day of the month following the end of the quarterly period. At the end of each quarter, the unused balances of the tariff rate quota shall automatically be transferred to the next quarter. No unused balance at the end of the last quarter of each year of application of the definitive tariff rate quota shall be transferred. Where the relevant quota is exhausted for a specific country, imports from that country can access the residual tariff-rate quota for the same product category. This provision shall only apply during the last quarter of each year of application of the definitive tariff-rate quota.
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