G/SG/N/10/PHL/6/Suppl.3  
G/SG/N/11/PHL/7/Suppl.5  
G/SG/N/14/PHL/7/Suppl.1  
 
4 August 2015  
(15-4015)  Page: 1/4  
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 PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 12.1(C) 
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS 
(EXTENSION OF THE MEASURE)  
 
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 9, FOOTNOTE 2 
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS 
PHILIPPINES  
(Steel Angle Bars) 
Supplement 
The following communication, dated 27 July 2015, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the Philippines.1 
_______________ 
 
 
Further to the Philippine notification G/SG/N/6/PHL/7/Suppl.2 circulated on 1 December 2014 and notification G/SG/N/11/PHL/7/Suppl.4-G/SG/N/14/PHL/7 circulated on 20 April 2012, and 
pursuant to Articles 12.1(b) and 12.1(c) and Article 9, footnote 2, of the Agreement on 
Safeguards, the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the WTO hereby notifies that a decision to 
extend the application of a definitive safeguard me asure on steel angle bars from various countries 
has been made.
  
 1. Serious injury or threat ther eof caused by increased imports 
Pursuant to Section 19(2) of RA 8800, Depart ment of Trade and Industry referred to Tariff 
Commission, the request of SASSMAPI for an exte nsion of the definitive general safeguard 
measure on imported steel angle bars. The Commission concluded that:  
a) The collective output of the applicant companies constitutes a major proportion of the 
total domestic production of steel angle bars.  
b) The domestic industry has undertaken serious efforts to comply with its adjustment plan 
and there is evidence that the industry is making positive adjustment to import 
competition. The positive impact of the efficiency measures undertaken by the domestic industry to lower production cost translated to reduced prices.  
c) There was a significant increase in the volume of imports for the last two (2) years.  
d) Even with the safeguard measure in place, the threat of increased imports remains. 
Discontinuance of the imposition of the safeguard measure will likely lead to the recurrence of imports in increased quantities that would cause serious injury to the 
domestic industry. With the excess production capacities in China and other Asian 
countries, the Philippines will continue to be a target export market.  
                                               
1 A copy of the DTI Order Extension has been submitte d electronically. To consult this document please 
contact Ms. Budd ( Hilary.Budd@wto.org ) or Ms. Naville ( Delphine.Naville@wto.org ) of the Rules Division. G/SG/N/10/PHL/6/Suppl.3 • G/SG/N/11/PHL/7/Suppl.5 • G/SG/N/14/PHL/7/Suppl.1 
 
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  e) The termination of the safeguard duty will make it difficult for the domestic industry to 
price its products at a competitive level.  
f) Without the safeguard measure, the positive gains made by the domestic industry may 
be negated as it still needs time to fully pu t in place its commitments in the adjustment 
plan and effectively face import competition.  
 2. Precise description of the product involved 
Equal and unequal steel angle bars of a height of less than 80mm. The product is classified under 
AHTN 2012/2007 Heading Nos. 7216.21.00 and 7216.50.10.  3. Precise description of the proposed measure 
i) The imposition of the definitive general safe guard measure on steel angle bars shall be 
extended for another four (4) years with an  annual rate of reduction of 5%. Thus, a 
definitive general safeguard duty in the am ount of Php 3345/MT shall be imposed for 
the first year (16 March 2015 to 17 March 2016), Php 3178/MT for the second year 
(18 March 2016 to 19 March 2017), Php 3019/MT for the third year (20 March 2017 to 21 March 2018) and Php 2868/MT for the fourth year (22 March 2018 to 
23 March 2019) on imported steel angle bars from various countries. The amount of 
the measure shall be subject to regular review to give Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) the opportunity to modify  the amount of the duty if necessary. 
 
ii) Unequal leg angle bars are included since they have the same application and are 
directly competitive to domestically produced products. However, marine grade steel angle bars are excluded from the imposition of the definitive general safeguard 
measure. 
 
iii) Pursuant to Section 13 of RA 8800 and Rule 13.1.d of its IRR, "a general safeguard 
measure shall not be applied to a pr oduct originating from a developing 
country if its share to the total Philippi ne imports of the said product is less 
than three percent (3%): Provided, howe ver that developing countries with 
less than three percent (3%) share co llectively account for not more than 
nine percent (9%) of the total Phili ppine imports of the product concerned" . 
The countries and separate customs territories listed in Annex A are therefore excluded from the imposition of the definitive general safeguard measure on steel angle bars. 
 
4. Date of introduction of the de finitive general safeguard measure 
The safeguard measure shall take effect upon issu ance of the relevant Memorandum Order by the 
Bureau of Customs or 15 days after the publication of the DTI Order in two (2) newspapers of 
general circulation, whichever comes earlier.  5. Expected duration of the measure 
The safeguard measure will be applied for four (4) years from the date of entry into force. 
 6. Expected timetable for progressi ve liberalization of the measure 
If extended, the measure shall be liberalized after fo ur (4) years from the date of entry into force. 
 7. Major exporting Members of imports of the product involved: 
China is the major supplier of the imported product from 2012 to 2014. 
 G/SG/N/10/PHL/6/Suppl.3 • G/SG/N/11/PHL/7/Suppl.5 • G/SG/N/14/PHL/7/Suppl.1 
 
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  ANNEX A 
LIST OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND SEPARATE CUSTOMS 
TERRITORIES EXCLUDED FROM THE IMPOSITION OF DEFINITIVE 
SAFEGUARD MEASURE ON STEEL ANGLE BARS 
East & Southern 
Africa West Africa North Africa South Asia 
Angola 
Botswana Burundi Comoros Congo Dem. Rep. 
Djibouti 
Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Lesotho Madagascar 
Malawi 
Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Reunion Rwanda 
Seychelles 
Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland Tanzania 
Uganda 
Zambia Zimbabwe 
 Benin Burkina Faso Cameroon Cape Verde 
Central African Rep. Chad Congo, Rep. 
Cote d'Ivoire 
Equatorial Guinea Gabon Gambia, The Ghana Guinea 
Guinea, Bissau 
Liberia Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria 
Sao Tome & Principe 
Senegal Sierra Leone Togo 
 Algeria Egypt, Arab Rep. Libya Morocco Tunisia 
 Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan British Indian Ocean Territory East Timor 
India 
Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka 
 
 
 G/SG/N/10/PHL/6/Suppl.3 • G/SG/N/11/PHL/7/Suppl.5 • G/SG/N/14/PHL/7/Suppl.1 
 
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Europe & Central Asia Middle East Americas East Asia & Pacific 
Albania 
Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bosnia & 
  Herzegovina 
Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Estonia 
Georgia 
Greenland Hungary Kazakhstan Kyrgyz Republic Latvia 
Lithuania 
Macedonia, FYR Malta Moldova Poland 
Romania 
Russian Federation Slovakia Slovenia Tajikistan Turkey 
Turkmenistan 
Ukraine Uzbekistan Yugoslavia, Fed. Rep. 
 Bahrain Iran, Islamic Rep. Iraq Israel Jordan 
Kuwait 
Lebanon Oman 
Qatar Saudi Arabia 
Syrian Arab Rep. United Arab Emirates 
West Bank & Gaza 
Yemen, Rep. 
 
 Anguilla 
Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Aruba Bahamas 
Barbados 
Belize Bermuda Bolivia Brazil British Virgin Islands 
Cayman Islands 
Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica 
Dominican Rep. 
Ecuador El Salvador 
Falkland Is. (Malvinas) French Guiana Grenada Guadeloupe 
Guatemala 
Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Martinique 
Mexico 
Montserrat Netherland Antilles Nicaragua Norfolk Islands Panama 
Paraguay 
Peru Puerto Rico St. Helena St. Kitts & Nevis St. Lucia 
St. Pierre & Miquelon 
St. Vincent & the    Grenadines Suriname Trinidad & Tobago Turks & Caicos Islands 
Uruguay 
US Virgin Islands Venezuela 
 American Samoa Brunei Darussalam Cambodia 
Christmas Is. Chinese Taipei 
Cocos (Keeling) Is. 
Cook Is. 
Fiji French Polynesia Guam Hong Kong, China Indonesia 
Johnston Is. 
Kiribati Korea, Dem. Rep. Lao, PDR 
Macau, China Malaysia 
Marshall Islands 
Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 
Midway Is. Mongolia Myanmar Nauru New Caledonia 
Niue 
Northern Marianas Is. Palau Pitcairn Is. Papua New Guinea 
Samoa Singapore Solomon Islands Thailand 
Tokelau 
Tonga Tuvalu 
Vanuatu Vietnam 
Wake Is. Wallis & Futuna Is. 
 
 
 
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