As promised in its steel action plan (see EUROPE 13603/14), the European Commission amended its steel safeguard measure on Tuesday 25 March to further restrict the volume of 26 categories of steel entering the EU duty-free. According to the amendments published by the Commission, the tariff quotas imposed in 2019 and due to increase by 1% each year will in fact only increase by 0.1% between 2025 and 2026. The additional tariff of 25% imposed on imports, once the quota has been used up, remains unchanged.
Other changes have been adopted in the safeguard: it will no longer be possible for certain countries to use quotas not used by other countries, such as Russia and Belarus, which are subject to an embargo, for example.
Exporters will also be unable to use their unused quotas in the following quarter.
After June 2026, the safeguard measure expires, and the Commission has stated that it will propose an alternative solution to the safeguard by the end of the year, in order to maintain the protection of European industry.
See the modified safeguard measure: https://aeur.eu/f/g45 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)