G/SG/N/7/COL/1  
G/SG/N/11/COL/1  
 
16 September 2013  
(13-4887)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Safeguards  Original: Spanish  
 
 NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.4 OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS 
BEFORE TAKING A PROVISIONAL SAFEGUARD MEASURE 
REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 6 
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 9, FOOTNOTE 2 
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS 
COLOMBIA  
(Steel Wire Rod) 
The following communication, dated 12 September 2013, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Colombia.  
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Pursuant to Article 12.4 of the WTO Agreemen t on Safeguards, Colombia hereby notifies 
the adoption of a provisional safeguard measure on imports of steel wire rod in accordance with the regulations established in its domestic legislation – Decree No. 152 of 1998. 
 
The initiation of this investigation was notified in document G/SG/N/6/COL/4 of 26 July 2013.  1. Product involved 
 
Steel wire rod, commercially known as alambrón trefilable (drawable wire rod), which is classified 
in the National Customs Tariff (Decree No. 4927 of 2011) under the following subheadings: 
 
PRODUCT  SUBHEADING  DESCRIPTION (ADAPTED TEXT)  
Steel wire 
rod 
 7213.20.00.00 Bars and rods, hot-rolled, in irre gularly wound coils, of non-alloy 
free-cutting steel. 
7213.91.10.00 Bars and rods, hot-rolled, in irregularl y wound coils, of iron or non-alloy 
steel, of circular cross-section measuring less than 14 mm in diameter, containing by weight less than 0.12% of chromium, nickel, copper and molybdenum taken together. 
7213.91.90.00 Other bars and rods, hot-rolled, in irregularly wound coils, of iron 
or non-alloy steel, of circular cross-section measuring less than 14 mm in diameter.  
7213.99.00.10 Other bars and rods, hot-rolled, in irregularly wound coils, of iron 
or non-alloy steel, containing by weight less than 0.12% of chromium, nickel, copper and molybdenum taken together. 
7213.99.00.90 Other bars and rods, hot-rolled, in irregularly wound coils, of iron 
or non-alloy steel. 
7227.90.00.10 Other bars and rods, hot-rolled, in irregularly wound coils, of boron 
alloy steel. 
 
2. Proposed measure  
Customs duty of 21.29%. 
 G/SG/N/7/COL/1 • G/SG/N/11/COL/1 
 
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  3. Proposed date of introduction of the measure 
 In the coming days.  
4. Grounds for application of the measure  
 (a) Evidence of critical circumstances  
 
Pursuant to domestic legislation (Article 33 of Decree No. 152 of 1998), and in accordance with Article 6 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, a study was conducted in order to analyse the behaviour of indicators of critical circumstances. The study focused 
on variables in respect of inventories, dome stic sales, and gross and operating profit, 
which were taken from the economic and financial information, by line of production, provided by ACERÍAS PAZ DEL RÍO S.A. The study compared the performance of each of these indicators 
between the first and the second half of 2012, in th e light of the increase in imports in that year. 
 The six-monthly analysis of imports that took place during the investigation period shows steady 
growth between the first half of 2010 and the fi rst half of 2011, with increases of 62.46% 
and 12.95% respectively. In the first and the second half of 2012, total imports continued to rise by 13.68% and 2.24%, reaching 100,359,828 kg, a volume higher than that recorded in 2010 and 2011. 
 
Between the first and the second half of 2012, the volume of total imports rose from 98,165,361 kg to 100,359,829 kg. 
 
In any case, between the reference period and the two halves of 2012, average imports rose by 33.35%, from 74,435 tonnes to 99,262 tonnes, an increase of 24,826 tonnes. 
 
Per unit import prices in the two halves of 2012 fell by 6.62% from US$0.73/kg to US$0.68/kg, which amounts to US$730/tonne.  
During the critical period, the countries accounting for the largest share of imports were 
Mexico (49.98%), Trinidad and Tobago (22.81%) , Brazil (9.43%) and the Bolivarian Republic 
of Venezuela (9.46%). 
 
The comparison showed evidence of critical circ umstances: a decline of 27.29% in domestic sales 
indicators, an increase of 396% in the final inventory of the finished product, a drop 
of 12.30 percentage points in the gross profit ma rgin, and a reduction of 15.33 percentage points 
in the operating profit margin.  5. Major exporting Members of imports of the product involved 
 
Mexico, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and Spain.  
6. Countries not subject to the measure 
 Imports originating in the United States and Canada are excluded from the measure under the free 
trade agreements in force between Colombia and those countries. These agreements provide for 
the maintenance of WTO rights and obligations as regards the application of general safeguard measures, but include an exclusion clause when the imports of the Parties are not a substantial cause of injury. 
 
Thus, imports originating in the United States and Canada must be excluded from the measure, since the relevant analyses reveal that their share in total imports was 0.02% in the case 
of the United States and 0% in the case of Canada. Consequently, these imports do not constitute 
a substantial cause of the serious injury determined in the investigation.  
7. Offer of consultations under Article 12.4  
 In accordance with Article 12.4 of the Agreement on Safeguards, Colombia is prepared to hold consultations on the provisional safeguard me asure, once the measure has been adopted, 
with those Members that have a substantial interest as exporters of the subject product. G/SG/N/7/COL/1 • G/SG/N/11/COL/1 
 
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  NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 9, FOOTNOTE 2 
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS 
In accordance with Article 9 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, "[s]afeguard measures shall 
not be applied against a product originating in a developing country Member as long as its share 
of imports of the product concerned in the import ing Member does not exceed 3%, provided that 
developing country Members with less than 3% import share collectively account for not more than 9% of total imports of the product concerned". 
 
Pursuant to Article 9.1 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, and looking at the import statistics 
for the period analysed, the individual shares of  imports from Argentina, Chile and Ecuador were 
less than 3%, and collectively do not account for more than 9% of total imports of the 
product concerned. 
 Thus, the provisional safeguard measure against imports of steel wire rod would not apply 
to imports from the aforementioned countries, si nce they comply with the conditions set forth 
in Article 9 of the Agreement on Safeguards.  
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