The European Commission has announced provisional safeguards on imports of 28 steel products including three items from Việt Nam.— Photo vov.vn

HÀ NỘI — The European Commission has announced provisional safeguards on imports of 28 steel products including three items from Việt Nam.

The Trade Remedies Authority of Việt Nam under the Ministry of Industry and Trade has said that the EC had sent a notice to the WTO regarding the decision. Provisional measures concern 23 steel product categories and will take the form of a Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ).

For each of the 23 categories, tariffs of 25 per cent will only be imposed once imports exceed the average recorded over the last three years. The quota will be allocated on a first come first serve basis, not by individual exporting countries.

The safeguard measures came into effect on July 19 and could remain in place for a maximum of 200 days.

Under the notice, Vietnamese cold-rolled and non-alloy steel, plated steel and cold rolled plates and bars will be subject to the decision.

According to WTO rules, safeguard measures should apply to all imports, irrespective of their origin. However, the WTO also requires that if imports from developing countries represent less than 3 per cent of the total, they should be exempt. The regulation therefore contains a list of developing countries that are exempt from the measures.

All interested parties will now have the opportunity to comment on the findings of the investigation. The commission will take these comments into consideration in order to reach its final conclusion, at the latest by early 2019. If all conditions are met, definitive safeguard measures may be imposed as a result.

Canada investigates VN’s steel pipe

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has launched an investigation into whether or not carbon steel welded pipes from Việt Nam, the Philippines, Pakistan and Turkey are being sold at unfair prices in the northern American country. 

Investigated items are identified as standard pipes, in the nominal size ranging from 12.7mm to 168.3mm in outside diameter. 

The investigation follows a complaint filed by Novamerican Steel Inc in Montreal, Quebec. The firm alleges that as a result of price undercutting from those four countries, Canadian industry faces price suppression and lost sales.

The CBSA and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) are looking to determine whether the imports are harming Canadian producers. The CITT will issue a decision on September 18 while the CBSA will give its preliminary decision one month later. Currently, Canada is applying 101 special import measures, covering a wide variety of industrial and consumer products, from steel products to refined sugar. 

Last year, the steel industry employed more than 23,000 Canadians, and contributed 4.2 billion CAD to the economy. — VNS