EU makes extensive changes to steel safeguard measures

The European Commission has announced fundamental changes to safeguard measures for certain steel products in COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2025/612 of 24 March 2025. The new regulation aims to ensure the sustainability of trade flows and domestic production by revising the strict safeguard measures introduced under the previous Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/159.

Key Changes and Extensions

The safeguard measure was initially introduced for three years, until June 30, 2021. Subsequently, the Commission decided to extend the measure until June 30, 2024 in the First Extension Review Regulation 2021/1029 and until June 30, 2026 in the Second Extension Review Regulation 2024/1782, on the grounds that the EU industry had adapted and that it was still necessary to prevent serious harm. The Commission committed to conduct an operational review at least once at the end of each year after the implementation of the measures, and such reviews were carried out in 2019, 2020, 2022 and June 2023.

Market Developments and Comments

Thirteen Member States requested an operational review based on the relevant provisions of the Regulation on 29 November 2024, which included evidence of a contraction of steel demand within the EU, an expansion of the free quota volume and an increase in imports from other markets. Comments from interested parties suggested that the current TRQ levels were no longer in line with EU steel demand, that demand was increasing in some sectors while declining in others, that the market was struggling due to external factors (high energy costs, geopolitical issues) and that quota liberalization was insufficient.

The Commission developed different implementation modalities, categorizing the 26 Safeguard product categories into four groups based on market pressure. In addition, new regulations were introduced, particularly in certain product groups:

• Quota Porting Arrangement:
  The draws for each quota quarter will be suspended on the 20th day of the Commission's working days after the end of the quarter. Unused tariff-rate quota balances will be automatically rolled over to the next quarter for the relevant product categories (except for 1A, 2, 4A, 5, 6, 7, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25B). Any unused balance in the last quarter of each year of implementation of the firm quota will not be rolled over.
  
  
• Tariff-Rate Quota Access Arrangement:
  If the relevant tariff-rate quota for a particular country has been exhausted, that country will be able to import some product categories within the remaining quota for the same product category. However, no additional access will be allowed for product categories 1A, 2, 3B, 4A, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25B and 26; and for product categories 1B, 3A, 9, 10, 12, 27 and 28, access will only be granted to a certain volume within the initially available quota volume in the last quarter. In particular, in category 4B, no exporting country will be able to use more than 30% of the remaining quota on its own.
  
  
• Maximum Import Volume Limitation:
  The maximum import volume rates to be applied on a country-by-country basis on the basis of product categories were determined. Accordingly;
  
  
  • 13% for Categories 1A and 2,
    
    
  • 15% for categories 16 and 17,
    
    
  • 20% for Categories 4B, 6, 7 and 13,
    
    
  • 25% for categories 4A, 5 and 14,
    
    
  • For Categories 3B, 20, 21, 25B and 26, the rate will be 30%.
    These rates apply to countries that do not have country-specific quotas under the “Other countries” quota and will be applied in all quarters.

Product Details

EU safeguard measures cover various steel product groups:

• Stainless Steel Products:
  
  
  • Long Products: Stainless bars, light sections, stainless wire rods and seamless stainless tubes (Categories 14, 15, 22) are under strict control.
    
    
• Flat Rolled Stainless Steel:
  
  
  • Hot and Cold Rolled Sheets and Strips: Stainless hot rolled sheets (Category 8) and strips, stainless cold rolled sheets and strips (Category 9) and stainless hot rolled quarto sheets (Category 10) are products with significant trade volumes.
    
    
• Hot Rolling Sheets and Strips:
  
  
  • Category 1 covers low-alloy and other unalloyed hot-rolled sheets and strips. Here, it was found that the 15% quota limit prevented the use of duty-free quotas for certain niche products (CN code 7212 60 00), which was resolved by the decision to split category 1 into two subcategories (1A and 1B) to better assess the products.

The EU Commission's sweeping regulations are aimed at protecting competition in the steel sector, supporting domestic production and ensuring fair trade in the EU market. The new regulations include differentiated quotas on a product-by-product basis, restrictions on access to residual quotas, maximum import volume limits and carry-over of unused quota volumes. These changes will gradually enter into force on April 1, 2025 and July 1, 2025.

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