G/SG/N/7/VNM/2  
G/SG/N/11/VNM/2  
 
11 March 2016  
(16-1429)  Page: 1/7  
 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 12.4 OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS 
VIET NAM 
(Certain semi-finished and finished products of alloy and non-alloy steel) 
 
The following communication, dated 10 March 2016, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Viet Nam. 
 
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 In accordance with Ordinance No. 42/2002/PL-UBTVQH10 dated 25 May 2002 of the Standing 
Committee of the National Assembly on Safeguards on Imports of Foreign Goods into Vietnam and 
Decree No. 150/2003/ND-CP dated 8 December 2003 of the Government providing detailed regulations for implementation of Ordinance on safeguards on imports of foreign goods into Vietnam, the Ministry of Industry and Trade no tifies the application of provisional safeguard 
measures on Certain semi-finished and finished products of alloy and non-alloy steel under HS 
code of 7207.11.00; 7207.19.00; 7207.20.29; 7207.20.99; 7224.90.00; 7213.10.00; 7213.91.20; 7214.20.31; 7214.20.41; 7229.90.00; 7228.30.10; 9811.00.00 
 
1. Background  
On 25 December 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued the Decision No. 14296/QD-BCT 
on the initiation of safeguard investigation on certain semi-finished and finished products of alloy and non-alloy steel (hereinafter referred to as "sub ject products") imported from various countries. 
 
2. Subject product 
 The steel products covered by the investigation include: 
 
a. Semi-finished products of iron or non-alloy steel products; 
b. Bars & rods of iron or non-alloy steel. 
Certain steel products under HS Code: 7207.11.00; 7207.19.00; 7207.20.29; 7207.20.99; 
7224.90.00; 7213.10.00; 7213.91.20; 7214.20.31; 7214.20.41; 7227.90.00; 7228.30.10; 9811.00.00.  
 
3. Provisional safeguard measures applied  
Ministry of Industry and Trade shall apply provis ional safeguard measure in the form of import. 
Duty on subject products imported into Vietnam as follows:  G/SG/N/7/VNM/2 • G/SG/N/11/VNM/2 
 
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  3.1. Semi-finished products of ir on or non-alloy steel products 
 The provisional safeguard measure which applied to Semi-finished products of iron or non-alloy steel products is 23.3% in the form of import duty under HS code as follows: 
 
No. HS Code Description 
7207 Semi-finished products of iron or non-alloy steel.  
1 7207.11.00 - - Of rectangular (including square) cross-section, the width measuring 
less than twice the thickness  
2 7207.19.00 - - Other  
7207.20 - Containing by weight 0.25% or more of carbon:  
3 7207.20.29 - - - - Other  
4 7207.20.99 - - - - Other  
7224 Other alloy steel in ingots or other primary forms; semi-finished products of 
other alloy steel.  
5 7224.90.00 - Other  
 
3.2. Bars & rods of iron or non-alloy steel.  
The provisional safeguard measure which applied to Bars & rods of iron or non-alloy steel. 
Is 14.2% in the form of import duty under HS as follows:  
No. HS code Description 
7213 Bars and rods, hot-rolled, in irregularl y wound coils, of iron or non-alloy 
steel. 
1 7213.10.00 - Containing indentations, ribs, groov es or other deformations produced 
during the rolling process 
2 7213.91.20 - - - Of a kind used for conc rete reinforcement (rebars) 
7214 Other bars and rods of iron or non-alloy steel, not further worked than 
forged, hot-rolled, hot-drawn or hot-extracted, but including those twisted 
after rolling. 
7214.20 - Containing indentations, ribs, groov es or other deformations produced 
during the rolling process or twisted after rolling: 
- - Containing by weight le ss than 0.6% of carbon: 
- - - Of circular cross-section: 
3 7214.20.31 - - - Of a kind used for conc rete reinforcement (rebars) 
4 7214.20.41 - - - Of a kind used for conc rete reinforcement (rebars) 
7227 Bars and rods, hot-rolled, in irregularl y wound coils, of other alloy steel. 
5 7227.90.00 - Other 
7228 Other bars and rods of other alloy st eel; angles, shapes  and sections, of 
other alloy steel; hollow drill bars and rods, of a lloy or non-alloy steel. 
7228.30 - Other bars and rods, not further wo rked than hot-rolled, hot-drawn or 
extruded: 
6 7228.30.10  - - Of circular cross-section 
9811  
7 9811.00.00 Alloy steel contain Boron and/or Ch rome except hot-rolled steel. 
 
 G/SG/N/7/VNM/2 • G/SG/N/11/VNM/2 
 
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  4. Countries or origin of products und er investigation subject to provisional 
safeguard measure  Provisional safeguard measure is applied to imported products from all countries under 
investigation, except for countries excluded from the investigation in accordance with the 
regulation on negligible volume of imports (Article 13 of Decree 150/2003/ND-CP of 8 December 2003 detailing regulations for implementation of Ordinance on safeguards on imports 
of foreign goods into Vietnam). Please see the list of countries excluded from the investigation in 
the Appendix below.  5. Effective date of the pr ovisional safeguard measures 
 
Provisional safeguard measures will take effect after 15 days from the date of signing of the 
Decision of the Minister of Industry and Trade, i.e. 22 March 2016. 
 
6. Duration of the provisional safeguard measures  
Provisional safeguard measures will be applied for a period not exceeding 200 days since the 
effective date, i.e. until 7 October 2016. The provis ional safeguard measures will be terminated in 
the case of Minister of Industry and Trade decides to apply the definitive safeguard measures or to 
terminate the investigation. 
 
7. Basis for application of the provisional safeguard measures  
Based on the information provided by interested parties, the Investigating Authority determines as 
follows:  
-  The domestic industry is a group of steel companies whose manufacturing certain semi-finished 
and finished products of alloy and non-alloy steel in Vietnam, that represent more than 50% of total Vietnam production.  
-  Domestically produced like product consists of certain semi-finished and finished products of 
alloy and non-alloy steel. These products have the same components of raw materials, specification, production methods, purposes of use with the imported subject products above. 
 
-  The volume of subject products imported to Vietnam increased in both relative and absolute terms. 
 
-  The domestic industry has suffered serious injury. Specifically, the domestic industry has got losing market share, reduction of productivity, turnover, employment, increase of inventories in 
the period of 2012-2015, especially 2015. 
 
-  The increase of import of subject products has caused serious injury to the domestic industry  
-  The economic crisis in China in recent years and the excess of capacity with the large amount of 
inventories of steel products in China; and the application of trade remedy measures to certain semi-finished and steel finished products of some countries are considered as "unforeseen 
development" and are the reasons for the surge of imports to Vietnam. 
 8. Next procedures  
The Investigating Authority will conduct a public hearing with interested parties before finishing 
the investigation. Time for the public hearing will be notified to interested parties at least 30 days before the hearing. Interested parties have to su bmit the registration to attend the hearing and 
written submissions of the view expressed at the he aring no later than 10 days before the date of 
public hearing.  
9. Further information 
 Information on the decision to apply provisiona l safeguard measures on subject products is 
accessible at the website of the Mi nistry of Industry and Trade ( http://www.moit.gov.vn ) and 
Vietnam Competition Authority ( http://www.vca.gov.vn or http://www.qlct.gov.vn ). G/SG/N/7/VNM/2 • G/SG/N/11/VNM/2 
 
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 Further information and comments should be sent to:   Trade Remedies Investigation Division 
 Vietnam Competition Authority - Ministry of Industry and Trade 
 Address: 25 Ngo Quyen Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam  Phone: (+84 4) 222.05002 (ext: 1035) (Ms. Mai Quynh) 
 Fax: (+84 4) 222.05003 
 Email: quynhpm@moit.gov.vn ; ninhtt@moit.gov.vn . G/SG/N/7/VNM/2 • G/SG/N/11/VNM/2 
 
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  APPENDIX 
LIST OF COUNTRIES EXCLUDED FROM THE INVESTIGATION 
1. Sub-Sahara Africa 
 
Angola  Madagascar  Nigeria 
Benin  Malawi  Rwanda 
Botswana  Mali  Sao Tome and Principe 
Burkina Faso  Mauritania  Senegal 
Burundi  Mauritius  Sierra Leone 
Cabo Verde  Mozambique  Somalia 
Cameroon  Namibia  South Africa 
Central African Republic  Niger  South Sudan 
Chad  Gabon Sudan 
Comoros  Gambia, The Swaziland 
Congo, Dem. Rep.  Ghana Tanzania 
Congo, Rep.  Guinea Togo 
Cote d'Ivoire  Guinea-Bissau Uganda 
Eritrea  Kenya Zambia 
Ethiopia  Lesotho Zimbabwe 
 Liberia  
 2. Asia Pacific  
American Samoa  Myanmar  
Cambodia  Palau  
Fiji  Papua New Guinea  
Indonesia Philippines  
Kiribati Samoa  
Korea, Dem. Rep. Solomon Islands  
Lao PDR Thailand  
Malaysia Timor-Leste  
Marshall Islands Tonga  
Micronesia, Fed. Sts. Tuvalu  
Mongolia Vanuatu  
 G/SG/N/7/VNM/2 • G/SG/N/11/VNM/2 
 
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  3. Europe and Central Asia 
 
Albania  Macedonia, FYR  
Armenia  Moldova  
Azerbaijan  Montenegro  
Belarus  Romania  
Bosnia and Herzegovina  Serbia  
Bulgaria  Tajikistan  
Georgia  Turkey  
Kazakhstan  Turkmenistan  
Kosovo  Ukraine  
Kyrgyz Republic  Uzbekistan  
 4. Latin America and Caribbean  
Belize  Guyana  
Bolivia  Haiti  
Brazil  Honduras  
Colombia  Jamaica  
Costa Rica  Mexico  
Cuba  Nicaragua  
Dominica  Panama  
Dominican Republic  Paraguay  
Ecuador  Peru  
El Salvador  St. Lucia  
Grenada  St. Vincent and the Grenadines  
Guatemala  Suriname  
 G/SG/N/7/VNM/2 • G/SG/N/11/VNM/2 
 
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  5. Middle East and North Africa  
 
Algeria  Libya  
Djibouti  Morocco  
Egypt, Arab Rep.  Syrian Arab Republic  
Iran, Islamic Rep.  Tunisia  
Iraq  West Bank and Gaza  
Jordan  Yemen, Rep.  
Lebanon   
 
6. South Asia  
Afghanistan  Maldives  
Bangladesh  Nepal  
Bhutan  Pakistan  
India  Sri Lanka  
  
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