Brussels, 19/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Union has welcomed the Geneva Verdict ruling that US safeguard measures against line pipe imports were illegal. The conclusions were confirmed last week by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Appellate Body at the request of South Korea and which in effect confirms EU views on safeguard measures that the USA threatened to take on 6 March in an effort to protect its steel market from foreign competitors.
The Union is also involved in another case concerning line pipe (only as the third party), where the Appellate Body has confirmed that, "safeguards are exceptional remedies that can only be applied when very strict conditions are met". The European Commission pointed out in a press release last Tuesday that the Appellate Body has ruled that this kind of measure, "requires safeguards to be limited to the extent necessary to prevent or remedy the injury caused to domestic industry by increased imports". In the Commission's opinion this judgement essentially confirms the European Union's view on safeguard measures and, "warrants careful attention in relation to future possible cases". The Commission considers that the conclusions of "the Appellate Body touch on possible US action" and possible American quotas on steel imports, given the recommendations of President Bush who declared that the Federal Commission for international trade had followed a logic similar to that in the line pipe case and did not appear to have made any distinction between the various sources of injury, for example, and had not assessed internal factors such as legacy costs.