Brussels, 22/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - On 21 April, the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries, Eurofer, spoke out against the decision made by India, one of the biggest players of the G20, which confirmed in London on 2 April its commitment to create new protectionist barriers and to open a safeguard investigation on imports of carbon hot-rolled steel products. An action of this kind may, the organisation fears, encourage other countries to follow suit, which may lead to an increase in export flows of steel to the EU. "We are seriously concerned that by this action (...), India has set the stage for a proliferation of safeguard actions in the global steel market, making a destructive wave of steel exports heading to the EU market unavoidable", warns the director general of Eurofer, Gordon Moffat, in a press release. Having launched an anti-dumping investigation on 28 November 2008 against carbon hot-rolled steel products from 15 countries (South Africa, Saudi Arabia, China, South Korea, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, Thailand, Turkey and Ukraine), New Delhi on 9 April initiated a safeguard procedure against all imports of the same group of products, this time covering exports from all countries of the EU, not just Romania. The safeguard procedure launched by India targets its imports of steel, which reached a level of 2 million tonnes between 2006 and 2008, and nearly a quarter of which came from the EU. It is worth noting that whereas antidumping duty targets imports of products believed to have been exported at a price lower than the normal prices, safeguard measures are restrictions, usually for a period of four years but which can be extended to eight, taken to protect a specific branch of industry against a sudden increase in imports, but which may not specifically target any country in particular. (E.H./transl.fl)