G/SG/N/7/THA/2  
G/SG/N/8/THA/2  
G/SG/N/11/THA/2  
 
13 February 2013  
(13-0814)  Page: 1/5  
Committee on Safeguards  Original: English  
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.4 OF THE AGREEMENT ON 
SAFEGUARDS BEFORE TAKING A PROVISIONAL SAFEGUARD 
MEASURE REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 6 
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.1(B) OF THE AGREEMENT ON 
SAFEGUARDS ON FINDING SERIOUS INJURY OR THREAT 
THEREOF CAUSED BY INCREASED IMPORTS 
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 9, FOOTNOTE 2, 
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS 
THAILAND  
(Hot Rolled Steel Flat Products with Certain Amounts of Alloying Elements) 
The following communication, dated 7 February 2013, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of Thailand.  
_______________ 
  Pursuant to Article 12 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, the Kingdom of Thailand hereby 
notifies the Committee on Safeguards of the results of its preliminary determination on the 
investigation on the importations of hot rolled steel flat products with certain amounts of alloying elements such as boron, chromium, etc., in coils and not in coils and before taking a provisional 
safeguard measure under Article 6 of the Agreement on Safeguards.  
 1. Product subject to the propose d provisional safeguard measure 
Hot rolled steel flat products with certain amounts of alloying elements such as boron, chromium, 
etc., in coils and not in coils classified under the Thai Customs Tariff Code 7225.30.90.011, 7225.30.90.012, 7225.30.90.013, 7225.30.90.014, 7225.30.90.021, 7225.30.90.022, 7225.30.90.023, 
7225.30.90.024, 7225.30.90.090, 7225.40.90.011, 7225.40.90.012, 7225.40.90.013, 7225.40.90.014, 
7225.40.90.021, 7225.40.90.022, 7225.40.90.023, 7225.40.90.024, 7225.40.90.090, 7226.91.10.011, 
7226.91.10.012, 7226.91.10.013, 7226.91.10.014, 7226.91.10.021, 7226.91.10.022, 7226.91.10.023, 
7226.91.10.024, 7226.91.10.090, 7226.91.90.011, 7226.91.90.012, 7226.91.90.013, 7226.91.90.014, 
7226.91.90.021, 7226.91.90.022, 7226.91.90.023, 7226.91.90.024, 7226.91.90.090
.  
 
2. Proposed provisional safeguard measure 
The provisional safeguard measure will take the form of tariff increases of 33.11 per cent of 
CIF price. 
 
However, imports originating in developing countries covered by the rule under Article 9 of the Agreement on Safeguards shall not be subject to the provisional safeguard measure. Attached as 
Annex is the list of said developing countries.  
 
  G/SG/N/7/THA/2 • G/SG/N/8 /THA/2 • G/SG/N/11/THA/2 
 
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  3. Proposed date of introduction of  the provisional safeguard measure 
The provisional safeguard measure is scheduled to enter into force on the day following the 
publication of the Notification of the Committee on Safeguard Measures of Thailand regarding the imposition of provisional safeguard measure in the Royal Gazette. 
 
4. Expected duration of the provisional safeguard measure 
The provisional safeguard measure will remain in force for a period not exceeding two hundred 
(200) days.  
 5. The basis for the imposition of  provisional safeguard measure: 
 (i) Preliminary determ ination, as provided for in Article 6 
 
As explained in the notification on the initiation of the safeguard investigation, the volume of imports of the product concerned into Thailand increased significantly by 72 per cent in 2010 
compared with the volume of imports in 2009. Later, the volume of imports increased further 
by 97 per cent in 2011 compared with the volume of imports in 2010. More recently, the volume of imports in 2012 surged substantially by 97 per cent in comparison with the volume of 
imports in 2011.    
 
(ii) Critical circumstances where delay would cause damage which it would be 
difficult to repair 
 
As mentioned above, increased imports have caused substantial damages to the domestic industry, notably in terms of the decrease in the level of domestic sales, the level of production, 
the level of capacity utilization, and the level of employment.  
 Furthermore, the market share of the domestic in dustry has continuously declined during 2010 - 
2012. In 2010, its market share reduced to 74 per cent from 78 per cent in 2009 and further 
reduced to 66 per cent in 2011. Particularly, the ma rket share of the domestic industry during the 
first six months of 2012 decreased to 62 per cent from 70 per cent during the same corresponding period of 2011. If this situation continues, the dome stic industry will inevitably lose more market 
share and face serious losses.  
 In addition, major steel producers in foreign countries have substantially increased their 
production capacity whereas steel consumption in their domestic markets has contrarily declined. 
Moreover, the global steel demand has significantly contracted due to the adverse effect of global economic recession resulting from the euro zone cr isis. Therefore, it can be anticipated that such 
major steel producers may face with an oversupply on their domestic markets and will unavoidably 
be more export-oriented to absorb the excess capacity available in their countries. This situation will result in a considerable increase in the growth of cheap imports of the products concerned being diverted to the Thai market. Therefore, the do mestic industry is at risk of having to suspend 
their business activities if provisional safeguard measures are not quickly adopted.   
 6. Provide information on whether there is  an absolute increase in imports or an 
increase in imports relative to domestic production (please see also Article 2.1 for 
the context)  
 There is an evidence of an absolute increase in imports of the product concerned to Thailand 
during the period of 2007-2012. Such absolute increase can be shown in the table below. 
 
 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
Import volume (MT) 170,424 327,385 234,124 403,762 793,810 1,559,969  
Absolute increase - 156,961 (93,261) 169,638  390,048  766,159  
Source:  Customs Statistics. 
  
 G/SG/N/7/THA/2 • G/SG/N/8 /THA/2 • G/SG/N/11/THA/2 
 
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  7. Major exporting Members of imports of the product involved 
The products concerned are mainly exported from the People’s Republic of China, Japan and the 
Republic of Korea, with the share of imports in 2012 of 42.39 per cent, 25.26 per cent, and 20.13 per cent, respectively. 
 
 
_______________ 
 
 G/SG/N/7/THA/2 • G/SG/N/8 /THA/2 • G/SG/N/11/THA/2 
 
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  ANNEX 
LIST OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORIES EXCLUDED FROM 
THE IMPOSITION OF PROVISIONAL SAFEGUA RD MEASURE ON HOT ROLLED STEEL  
FLAT PRODUCTS WITH CERTAIN AMOUNTS OF ALLOYING ELEMENTS SUCH AS  
BORON, CHROMIUM, ETC., IN COILS AND NOT IN COILS)  
East & Southern 
Africa West Africa North Africa South Asia 
Angola 
Botswana Burundi Comoros Congo. Dem. Rep. Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mayotte 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 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 Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka  G/SG/N/7/THA/2 • G/SG/N/8 /THA/2 • G/SG/N/11/THA/2 
 
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  Europe & Central Asia Middle East Americas Asia & Pacific 
Albania 
Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bosnia & Herzegovina Bulgaria Georgia Kazakhstan Kosovo Kyrgyz Republic Lithuania Macedonia, FYR 
Moldova 
Montenegro Romania Russian Federation Serbia Tajikistan Turkey Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan Yugoslavia, Fed. Rep. Iran, Islamic Rep. 
Iraq Jordan Lebanon Syrian Arab Rep. West Bank & Gaza Yemen, Rep. Anguilla  
Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Belize Bolivia Brazil British Virgin Islands Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica 
Dominican Rep. 
Ecuador El Salvador Falkland Is. (Malvinas) French Guiana Grenada Guadaloupe Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Martinique Mexico Montserrat American Samoa 
Cambodia Chinese Taipei  Christmas Is. Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Is. Fiji Indonesia Johnston Islands Kiribati Korea, Dem. Rep. Lao PDR 
Malaysia 
Marshall Islands Micronesia, Fed. Sts. Midway Is. Mongolia Myanmar Nauru Niue Palau Pitcairn Is. Papua New Guinea Philippines Samoa Solomon Islands Tokelau 
   Nicaragua 
Norfolk Island Panama Paraguay Peru St. Helena St. Kitts & Nevis 
St. Lucia 
St. Pierre & Miquelon St. Vincent & the   Grenadines Suriname Uruguay Venezuela Tonga 
Tuvalu Vanuatu Viet Nam Wake Island Wallis & Futuna Island  
 
 
 
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