G/SG/N/6/THA/2/Suppl.2  
G/SG/N/14/THA/2/Suppl.1  
 
16 July 2018 
(18-4449) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Safeguards  Original: English  
 
NOTIFICATION  UNDER ARTICLE 12.1  (A) OF THE AGREEMENT  
ON SAFEGUARDS ON INI TIATION OF AN INVEST IGATION  
AND THE REASONS FOR IT 
 
NOTIFICATION ON INITIATION  OF A REVIEW PURSUANT  TO  
ARTICLE 7.2 REGARDIN G THE EXTENSION OF  
A SAFEGUARD MEASURE  
THAILAND  
(Hot Rolled Steel Flat Products with Certain Amounts of Alloying Elements)  
Supplement  
The following communication, dated 16 July 201 8, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Thailand.  
 
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We enclose a notification on initiation o f a review pursuant to Article 7.2 of the Agreement 
on Safeguards regarding the extension of the safeguard measure in imports of Hot Rolled Steel 
Flat Products with Certain Amounts of Alloying Elements.  
1. Date of initiation  
 The notice of the initiation o f the investigation was published in the Royal Gazette on  3 July 
B.E. 2561 (2018).  
2. Product concerned  
 The product concerned is hot rolled steel flat products with certain amounts of alloying 
elements such as boron, chromium, etc., in coils and not in coils, with or without patterns in relief, 
of a thickness of 0.9 – 50.0 mm. and a width of 100 – 3,048 mm. Exclusion of such products from 
the scope of the product concerned are hot rolled steel flat products with certain amounts of 
alloying elements used in cold rolling process, hardening process and the automobile industry. 
The product concerned is currently classifiable under the Thai Cus toms Tariff Code at subheadings :  
(HS 2017)  
72253090010,   72253090021,   72253090022,   72253090023,   
72253090024,   72253090032,   72253090042,   72253090090,   
72254090010,   72254090024,   72254090034,   72254090090,  
72269110010,   72269110021,   72269110022,   72269110023,   
72269110024,   72269110032,   72269110042,   72269110090,   
72269190010,   72269190021,   72269190022,   72269190023,  
72269190024,   72269190032,   72269190042,   72269190090  G/SG/N/6/THA /2/Suppl.2 • G/SG/N/14/THA/2/Suppl.1  
 
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  (HS 2012)  
72253090011,   72253090012,   72253090013,   72253090014, 
72253090021,   72253090022,   72253090023,   72253090024, 
72253090090,   72254090011,   72254090012,   72254090013, 
72254090014,   72254090021,   72254090022,   72254090023, 
72254090024,   72254090090,   72269110011,   72269110012, 
72269110013,   72269110014,   72269110021,   72269110022, 
72269110023,   72269110024,   72269110090,   72269190011, 
72269190012,   72269190013,   72269190014,   7226919 0021, 
72269190022,   72269190023,   72269190024,   72269190090  
3. Reference to the WTO document containing the most recent Article 12.1(c)  
 The WTO document containing the most recent Article 12.1(c) is  
"G/SG/N/10/THA/2/Suppl.4/Corr.1 -G/SG/N/11/THA/2/Suppl.6 /Corr.1 " dated 28 June 2018.  
4. Reasons for the initiation of the review  
The initiation was initiated upon an evaluation of a safeguard petition from the domestic industry 
and on the basis of the evidence and the information contained therein by the commit tee on 
Safeguard of Thailand. It was concluded that there is sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of 
the review.  
(i) A petition for a review regarding the extension of a safeguard measure pursuant to 
Section  36 of the Safeguard Measures on Increa sed Imports Act B.E. 2550 (2007) was lodged by 
the domestic industry, consisting of Sahaviriya Steel Industries Public Company Limited, G Steel 
Public Company Limited, G J Steel Public Company Limited and Sahaviriya Plate Mill Public 
Company Limited, which  accounts for 93 percent of the production of the product concerned in 
Thailand.  
(ii) The domestic industry has provided sufficient evidence showing that the imports of 
product concerned decreased by 10 percent in year 2015 but increased again by 19 perce nt in 
year 2016 and when comparing the imports with total production of domestic industry, it is clear 
that the imports had only slightly increased  by 4 percent in year 2016, the first year of the 
extension of the safeguard measure, and it was decrease in year 2017 to account for 43 percent of 
total production of domestic industry which is almost the same level as in year 2013 (42 percent), 
the first year of safeguard measure. The domestic industry also provide  primary  information of 
serious injury factors including share of domestic market taken by increase imports, change in 
level of sales, production, productivity, capacity utilization, profit and losses, and employment 
showing the correlation between the imports of product concerned and the serious injur y factors . 
(iii) There is evidence that the domestic industry is adjusting in order to improve, amongst 
others, focusing on manufacturing efficiency to include new machinery installation, cost reduction, 
product improvement, human resource improvement and marketing processes.  
5. Deadlines and Procedures  
 (i) Presentation of evidence, documents and views  
  Pursuant to the Section 19 of the Safeguard Measures on Increased Imports Act B.E. 
2550 (2007), importers, and any other interested parties who desire to present evidence, 
documents and opinions pertaining to the investigation shall submit their evidence, documents and 
opinions so stated in writing to the Department of Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Commerce of 
Thailand within 15 days as of the date the Notification of the Investigation has entered into force; 
i.e. before 18 July B.E. 2561 (2018). Except fo r the exporters and any interest parties situated out 
of Thailand, the deadline for presentation of evidence, documents and views would be on 31 July 
B.E. 2561 (2018)  G/SG/N/6/THA/2/Suppl.2 • G/SG/N/14/THA/2/Suppl.1  
 
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   (ii) Hearing  
  An oral hearing will be held at the premises of DFT on 6 August 2018, 9.3 0 hrs. 
onwards. The interested parties who wish to attend the hearing shall provide the Acceptance form 
for Public Hearing before 31 July 2018 (16.30 hrs.) . 
6.  Requests and Contact regarding the investigation  
 The non -confidential summary of the petition for the extension of safeguard measures 
(Thai version) and the Acceptance the form for Public Hearing  are available in web page 
http://btir.dft.go.th/  > Initiation of a Review Regarding the Extension of a Safeguard Me asure . 
Interested parties wishing to raise questions regarding the above proceeding or request for 
information should contact to the following address:  
Trade Interests and Remedies Division, Department of Foreign Trade  
Ministry of Commerce of Thailand  
563 Nonthaburi Road., Bangkasor, Nonthaburi 11000 THAILAND  
Telephone: (662) 547 -5082, Facsimile: (662) 547 -4741 
Email: butrade@moc.go.th, ochissp @moc.go.th  
 
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