Brussels, 30/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Council has approved without debate the Commission's proposal to not apply immediate sanctions on the United States over steel (see Europe of 27 September, p.13). Pascal Lamy told reporters that the Council had agreed to freeze sanctions. They are a useful tool, the proof of which was the fact the EU had won a considerable number of exemptions and there are more to come, he said, which is preferable to retaliation that could not have provided anything to EU industry in the short-term. He went on to explain that he had told the Council about the safeguard measures adopted last week (see Europe of 28 September, p.8) that are quite different from the measures adopted in March because the EU has adjusted the scope of products that can be subject to supplementary tariffs in the event that import quotas are exceeded, he explained.