G/SG/N/8/ARE/3/Suppl.1, 
G/SG/N/8/BHR/3/Suppl.1 , 
G/SG/N/8/KWT/3/Suppl.1, 
G/SG/N/8/OMN/3/Suppl.1,  
G/SG/N/8/QAT/3/Suppl.1, 
G/SG/N/8/SAU/3/Suppl.1, G/SG/N/10/ARE/3, 
G/SG/N/10/BHR/3, G/SG/N/10/KWT/3, 
G/SG/N/10/OMN/3, G/SG/N/10/QAT/3, 
G/SG/N/10/SAU/3, G/SG/N/11/ARE/4, 
G/SG/N/11/BHR/4, G/SG/N/11/KWT/4, 
G/SG/N/11/OMN/4, G/SG/N/11/QAT/4, 
G/SG/N/11/SAU/4  
12 May 2021 
(21-4057) Page: 1/5 
Committee on Safeguards  Original:  English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.1(B) OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS  
ON FINDING A SERIOUS INJURY OR THREAT THEREOF  
CAUSED BY INCREASED IMPORTS  
NOTIFICATION OF A PROPOSAL TO IMPOSE A MEASURE  
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 9, FOOTNOTE 2  
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS  
COOPERATION COUNCIL FOR THE ARAB STATES OF THE GULF "GCC"  
Certain Steel Products  
The following communication, dated  26 April 2021 and received  on 10  May 2021 , is being circulated 
at the request of the Kingdom of Bahrain  as Presi dent of the GCC on behalf of the GCC member 
States.  
 
_______________  
 
 
Referring to the WTO document G/SG/N/8/ARE/3, G/SG/N/8/BHR/3 G/SG/N/8/KWT/3, 
G/SG/N/8/OMN/3 G/SG/N/8/QAT/3, G/SG/N/8/SAU/3  
1  EVIDENCE OF SERIOUS INJURY OR THREAT THEREOF CAUSED BY INCREASED IMPORTS  
(A) Serious Injury  
The investigation period covers 2014 to  the first half of 2019 . 
The final determination of serious injury is based on the evaluation of the overall position of the 
GCC industry in light of all relevant factors having a bearing on the situation of that industry, which 
shows a significant overall impairment and thus it is concluded that GCC industry has suffered 
serious injury and that the increase of GCC imports under investigation has caused serious injury to 
the GCC industry as follows:  
Index 2014 =100  
 2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  Jul 2018 - 
Jun 2019  
Production volume  100 101.80  102.19  93.82  102.54  79.80  
Capacity utilization  100 98.34  97.88  88.38  96.43  74.58  
Sales volume  100 106.40  106.67  98.21  93.64  76.32  G/SG/N/8/ARE/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/BHR/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/KWT/3/Suppl.1 • 
G/SG/N/8/OMN/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/QAT/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/SAU/3/Suppl.1 • 
G/SG/N/10/ARE/3 • G/SG/N/10/BHR/3 • G/SG/N/10/KWT/3 •  G/SG/N/10/OMN/3 • 
G/SG/N/10/QAT/3 • G/SG/N/10/SAU/3 • G/SG/N/11/ARE/4 • G/SG/N/11/BHR/4 • 
G/SG/N/11/KWT/4 • G/SG/N/11/OMN/4 • G/SG/N/11/QAT/4 • G/SG/N/11/SAU/4  
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   2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  Jul 2018 - 
Jun 2019  
Market share of 
domestic sales  100 96.72  98.53  97.48  97.08  94.05  
Market share of 
imports  100 115.86  107.13  112.18  114.14  128.78  
Inventory volume  100 83.32  67.95  67.72  106.85  109.75  
Employment  100 104.26  104.60  99.82  101.10  100.40  
Productivity  100 97.64  97.69  93.99  101.42  79.48  
Profits/ losses  100 -60.85  -0.10 -30.76  25.97  9.23 
Based on the period of investigation referred to above, GCC -TSAIP analyzed  the rate and volume of 
the increase in imports and assessed the impact on GCC industry of Certain Steel Products . According 
to the injury data above, there is sufficient final evidence that the GCC industry is suffering a serious 
injury in the form of decline in domestic sales, market share, production, employment, and profits , 
and increase in inventory,  in conjunction  with the increase of imports.  
The Investigating Authority made a final determination that the GCC industry is suffering serious 
injury during the period referred to above.  
(B) Threat of serious injury  
The GCC -TSAIP, in order to determine the threat of serious injury and verify that it is clearly foreseen 
and imminent, has analysed the rate of increase of imports of products under investigation into 
GCC market, and the increase in export capacity of exporting countries in the world, and it was 
found that  based on the mentioned below unforeseen developments, the surplus of global production 
capacity in addition to the trade policies adopted by many countries in the world may lead to the 
transfer of global exports to the GCC market, which indicates the like lihood of substantially increased 
imports and exposes the GCC industry to a further deterioration of its financial and economic 
situation in the future, As the GCC market remains an attractive market for foreign 
exporters/producers in the absence of availa bility of other export markets to absorb additional 
exports in the World, the majority of which remains protected, whether through trade policies or 
through the application of instruments of anti -injurious practices in international trade unlike the 
GCC ma rket. 
Therefore, GCC -TSAIP concludes that the GCC industry is in a situation of threat of serious injury 
for the products under investigation.  
(C) Unforeseen developments  
The GCC -TSAIP examined data on unforeseen developments either provided by the complai nant or 
collected during the investigation and made the following determinations:  
• The economic conditions related to the trade policy of the United States of America are 
considered as unforeseen developments that led to the imbalance of trade movement and 
the resulting protectionist measures against its imports of a large number of products, 
which is unusual, which coincided with the significant increase in production capacity in 
steel sector . These developments have also led to an increase in restrictive t rade practices 
carried out by many countries of the world through the large and unexpected number of 
investigations to remedy the anti -injurious  practices in international trade . Among these 
countries we mention the European Union, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt and the countries of 
the European Union (Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) , and Canada, Australia 
and India . These investigations have included a large number of products,  which is 
unprecedented in the nature of the investigations  of anti-injurious practices in 
international trade.  
• Where , according to the World Trade Organization statistics, the number of investigations 
in the steel sector increased to 625  investigations du ring the period from 2013 to 2018 ; G/SG/N/8/ARE/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/BHR/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/KWT/3/Suppl.1 • 
G/SG/N/8/OMN/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/QAT/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/SAU/3/Suppl.1 • 
G/SG/N/10/ARE/3 • G/SG/N/10/BHR/3 • G/SG/N/10/KWT/3 •  G/SG/N/10/OMN/3 • 
G/SG/N/10/QAT/3 • G/SG/N/10/SAU/3 • G/SG/N/11/ARE/4 • G/SG/N/11/BHR/4 • 
G/SG/N/11/KWT/4 • G/SG/N/11/OMN/4 • G/SG/N/11/QAT/4 • G/SG/N/11/SAU/4  
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  while for the first half of 2019, 47  investigations were recorded . Moreover, it is worth 
mentioning that some of these investigations ended with the imposition of final measures, 
including 363 anti -dumping during the peri od 2014 -2018, while the measures applied in 
the first half of a year 2019 has been recorded 44 final measures . The major countries 
applying these measures are, the United  States of America, the European Union, Canada, 
Russia, Turkey, Australia, Mexico, Bra zil, India, South Africa, Egypt and South Korea . 
Since these countries are considered major importers of steel products in the World and 
by looking at the trade policies applied by these countries to protect their markets and 
industries, that leads countri es, who faced protective measures against their export 
markets, to search for other unprotected markets . As a consequence, the GCC States 
market has been targeted for these imports, which may impact negatively on the 
GCC States industry.  
• The surplus of pro duction capacity in the steel industry worldwide has continually 
increased, since 2000, as it increased from 1,069.5  million  tons in 2000 to 2,233.7  million  
tons in 2018, which means an increase by 108.85 %. Moreover, during the year 2018, the 
utilized capa city of steel in the world reached 81 %, which reduced globally the gap 
between the maximum production capacity and actual production . Consequently, these 
increases in both maximum capacity and actual production of the steel industry has led to 
the dispari ty between supply and demand worldwide . Additionally, the Worldwide -Steel 
industry statistics indicate that there almost an additional investment of 110.2  million  tons 
will take a place in production capacity during the period of 2019 -2021, which will rais e 
the maximum steel production capacity in the world during the same period to 
2,343.9  million  tons representing an increase of 5 % compared to 2018.  
The GCC -TSAIP therefore concluded that the increase in imports of the product under investigation 
occurred as a result of unforeseen developments.  
(D) Causal Link  
Based on the final determination, GCC -TSAIP has examined the impact of other factors, other than 
the massive increase in imports that might cause serious injury to the GCC industry, such as trade 
restrictive practices, consumption, export performance and technology ; however, these factors did 
not contribute to the serious injury suffered by the GCC industry . Therefore, GCC -TSAIP found that 
there is sufficient evidence to the existence of the causal  link between the serious injury caused to 
the GCC industry and the increase of imports of the product under investigation.  
2  INFORMATION ON WHETHER THERE IS AN ABSOLUTE INCREASE IN IMPORTS OR AN 
INCREASE IN IMPORTS RELATIVE TO DOMESTIC PRODUCTION  
The produc t under investigation is being imported into GCC countries in such increased quantities in 
absolute terms and relative to GCC production as follows:  
Index 2014 =100  
 2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  Jul 2018 - 
Jun 2019  
Imports Volume (ton)  1,973.86  2,515.67  2,289.36  2,230.79  2,173.18  2,062.84  
Index  100 127.45  115.98  113.02  110.10  104.51  
Imports/production ratio  100 125.19  113.50  120.46  107.37  130.96  
The GCC -TSAIP considered as shown in the table above that the products under investigation are 
being imported into the GCC States market in such increasing quantities in absolute terms and 
relative to GCC production, where the absolute imports increased continuously during the 
investigation period , and Related to the production, the imports increased cont inuously during the 
period of investigation . 
Therefore, the GCC -TSAIP made a final determination that recent, sudden, sharp and significant 
increase of the imports of the imported products occurred in the investigation period.  G/SG/N/8/ARE/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/BHR/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/KWT/3/Suppl.1 • 
G/SG/N/8/OMN/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/QAT/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/SAU/3/Suppl.1 • 
G/SG/N/10/ARE/3 • G/SG/N/10/BHR/3 • G/SG/N/10/KWT/3 •  G/SG/N/10/OMN/3 • 
G/SG/N/10/QAT/3 • G/SG/N/10/SAU/3 • G/SG/N/11/ARE/4 • G/SG/N/11/BHR/4 • 
G/SG/N/11/KWT/4 • G/SG/N/11/OMN/4 • G/SG/N/11/QAT/4 • G/SG/N/11/SAU/4  
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  3  ADJUSTMENT PLAN  
The GCC industry has provided a viable adjustment plan for restructuring and adjusting its position 
so that it can develop its performance and competitiveness within the GCC and international markets 
so that it can compete with foreign imports after expiration of the safeguard measure imposition.  
4  DESCRIPTION OF THE PRODUCT INVOLVED  
The products under investigation are certain steel products which are classified under the 
GCC-Unified Tariff Code as following:  
No. Products Categories  HS Code  
3 Metallic Coated Steel 721030 ; 721049 ; 721069 ; 721220 ; 721230 ; 
721250 ; 721260 ; 722591 ; 722592 ; 722599  
4 Organic Coated Steel  721240  
5 Reinforced Steel Bars and Wire Rod  721310 ; 721320 ; 721391 ; 721399 ; 721410 ; 
721430 ; 721510 ; 721550 ; 721590 ; 722710 ; 
722720 ; 722810 ; 722820 ; 722840 ; 722850 ; 
722860 ; 721710 ; 721720 ; 721730 ; 721790 ; 
722100 ; 722300 ; 722920 ; 722990  
6 Circular, Square, and Rectangular Sticks and Rods  721491 ; 721499 ; 722211 ; 722219  
7 Sections  721610 ; 721631 ; 721632 ; 730810 ; 730110  
8 Angles and Shapes  721621 ; 721650 ; 730120  
9 Welded and Seamless Pipes and Tubes not 
Including Items for Gas and Oil  730539 ; 730661 ; 730690 ; 730431 ; 730590 ; 
730840 ; 730890  
5  DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED MEASURE  
The Permanent Committee has recommended imposing safeguard duty for three years at the rate 
of additional duty 16 % ad valorem  of the CIF value on the imports of the products under 
investigation.  
For the purpose of liberalizing the definitive safeguard measure, the proposed safeguard duty will 
be decrease d by around 5% each year as shown in point (10) below.  
Exclusions:  
The safeguard measures as described above will not apply to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and 
Switzerland.  
6  PROPOSED DATE OF INTRODUCTION OF THE MEASURE  
The date of introduction of the meas ure will be determined in the TSAIP - Official Gazette which will 
be published once the Ministerial Committee approves the imposition of the measure.  
7  EXPECTED DURATION OF THE MEASURE  
The safeguard measure, if adopted, will remain in force for three years.  
8  OFFER OF CONSULTATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 12.3  
Consistent with Article 12.3 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, the GCC -TSAIP offers 
consultations with Members having a substantial interest as the exporters of the products involved . 
Members with a substantial interest, requesting a consultation should contact the GCC -TSAIP not 
later than 10 (Ten) days from the date of the circulation of this notification at the following address:  G/SG/N/8/ARE/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/BHR/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/KWT/3/Suppl.1 • 
G/SG/N/8/OMN/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/QAT/3/Suppl.1 • G/SG/N/8/SAU/3/Suppl.1 • 
G/SG/N/10/ARE/3 • G/SG/N/10/BHR/3 • G/SG/N/10/KWT/3 •  G/SG/N/10/OMN/3 • 
G/SG/N/10/QAT/3 • G/SG/N/10/SAU/3 • G/SG/N/11/ARE/4 • G/SG/N/11/BHR/4 • 
G/SG/N/11/KWT/4 • G/SG/N/11/OMN/4 • G/SG/N/11/QAT/4 • G/SG/N/11/SAU/4  
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  The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf  
GCC-Bureau of Technical Secretariat for Anti Injurious Practices in International Trade  
6725 Jeddah Rd - AL Hada Dist  
Unit No 1 Riyadh 12324 -3147 
Tel: (+966) 11 2551388 T el: (+966) 11 2551399  
Fax: (+966) 11 2810093, Kingdom of Saudi  Arabia  
Email:  TSAD@gccsg.org  
9  FOR A MEASURE WITH A DURATION OF MORE THAN THREE YEARS, PROVIDE THE 
PROPOSED DATE FOR THE REVIEW (UNDER ARTICLE 7.4) TO BE HELD NOT LATER THAN 
THE MID -TERM OF THE MEASURE, IF SUCH DATE FOR THE REVIEW HAS ALREADY BEEN 
SCHEDULED  
Not applicable.  
10  IF THE EXPEC TED DURATION IS OVER ONE YEAR, PROVIDE THE EXPECTED TIMETABLE 
FOR PROGRESSIVE LIBERALIZATION OF THE MEASURE  
Duration  CIF %  Ad valorem  
First year  16 
Second year  15.2 
Third year  14.44  
11  IF THE MEASURE IS BEING EXTENDED, ALSO PROVIDE : (I) EVIDENCE THAT THE 
INDUSTRY CONCERNED IS ADJUSTING AND THAT THE SAFEGUARD MEASURE CONTINUES 
TO BE NECESSARY TO PREVENT OR REMEDY SERIOUS INJURY  
Not applicable.  
12  SPECIFY THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TO WHICH THE MEASURE IS NOT APPLIED 
UNDER ARTICLE  9.1 OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS, AND THE IMPORT SHARES OF 
THESE COUNTRIES INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY  
The following developing countries are excluded from the measure as they export less than 3 % 
individually and less than 9 % collectively to GCC countries:  
Afghan istan, Albania , Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Bangladesh, Barbados, 
Belize , Benin, Bolivia , Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, 
Capo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Ri ca, Côte d'Ivoire , Cuba, 
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, 
El Salvador, Fiji, Gabon Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea -Bissau, 
Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indo nesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, 
Laos, Lesotho, Macau, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, 
Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, 
Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, 
Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, 
Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname , Chinese Taipei , Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, 
Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia , Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, 
Vietnam , Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.  
 
__________