16.11. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 294/3 
Medium-term guidelines for technical steel research (1986 to 1990) 
(Pursuant to Article 55 of the ECSC Treaty) 
COM(85) 392 final 
(85/C 294/03) 
Preamble 
All enterprises, research institutes and individual persons 
wishing to engage in research within the meaning of 
Article 55 of the ECSC Treaty may make application to 
the Commission of the European Communities for the 
grant of financial assistance. 
Such applications must relate to the fields of science and 
technology outlined below in these medium-term 
guidelines. Upon receipt, applications will undergo 
selection by the Commission which will bear in mind the 
need to ensure that financial expenditure is concentrated 
upon research projects which best satisfy the criteria of 
this medium-term programme. 
The procedures to be followed in applying for financial 
support, the terms and conditions of aid as well as the 
obligations relating to the dissemination of the results of 
the research are given in a communication published in 
the Official Journal of the European Communities No C 
139 of 12 November 1974. 
Application should be submitted before 1 September of 
each year in order to be effective in the following year. 
I. Background 
Article 55 of the Treaty concerning the establishment of 
the European Coal and Steel Community specifies that 
the Commission of the European Communities shall 
promote technical and economic research relating in 
particular to production and increased use of steel and to 
occupational safety in the steel industry. 
Guidelines for steel research are laid down periodically 
by the Commission with the aims of: 
— concentrating effort on the priority technological 
needs of the steel industry and 
— facilitating the selection of projects for financial 
support from the Commission of the European 
Communities. 
The most recent guidelines covered the period 1981 to 
1985 ('). 
The total amount of financial aid granted for these 
collaborative programmes since their commencement in 
1955 is about 271 million European units of account 
which represents about 60 % of the total cost of the 
research undertaken. From the outset, the aim has been to encourage research 
and development effort to meet the common tech­
nological requirements of the steel industry with the 
overall objective of improving its international 
competitiveness. As a consequence, the policy for steel 
research forms an integral part of the Commission's 
strategy for the steel sector which is periodically defined 
in the General Objectives — Steel (2). 
II. Objectives 
The two major objectives for collaborative research on 
steel are: 
— the achievement of improved cost-competitiveness in 
the production and processing of steel along with the 
enhancement and greater uniformity of quality in its 
various aspects, 
— the stimulation of steel consumption, in domestic and 
export markets by the development of improved steel 
grades and new uses for products technologically and 
economically more advanced than those of our 
competitors. 
Some 76 % of the Community's steel is produced by the 
blast furnace-oxygen converter route while the remaining 
24 % comes from the steel scrap-electric arc furnace. 
Over the medium term, there will be no radical change 
to this situation so it is understandable that much of the 
process-oriented research will be directed at achieving 
relevant incremental improvements to these technologies. 
In parallel with this effort, however, there will remain 
the need for some effort to be directed at developing 
radically new process routes. 
While recognizing the significance of process-oriented 
research, however, the present situation in the industry is 
calling for a major shift in emphasis to ensure that 
R&D becomes more market-driven. It is vital that 
product-oriented research is effective in defending 
traditional markets as well as in extending the areas of 
application and uses for steel. Issues of major concern 
will include substitution by other materials, better 
corrosion-resistant steels, more consistent quality, in­
creasingly stringent consumer specifications, lighter-
weight, higher-strength steels and the role of research as 
a stimulus in establishing new and up-dating existing 
codes and standards by the appropriate bodies. 
O OJ No C 99, 2. 5. 1985, p. 3. (2) The most recent version is 'General Objectives — Steel 
1985' (COM(83) 239). 
No C 294/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 16.11.85 
It is also necessary to develop detailed scientific and 
technical information for users on a very practical basis 
in order to promote steel within and outside the 
Community. This effort is essential both to meeting 
users' requirements and to provide a real incentive for 
innovation. 
In the achievement of these goals, ECSC steel research 
has a major contribution to make to the industry's 
common research objectives with emphasis being placed 
on short- to medium-term needs, as well as, on selected 
longer-term basic effort of practical relevance. 
Thus, the programme will remain an important source of 
scientific and technical information which may be 
applied and exploited by individual companies in pursuit 
of their more specific and more commercial objectives as 
well as a major stimulus to collaboration in research 
within the steel sector. 
III. Criteria 
The criteria to be satisfied in the selection of applications 
for financial support by the ECSC are as follows: 
— the objectives of the framework programme for 
Community research (') and the general objectives 
for steel defined periodically by the Commission 
under Article 46 of the ECSC Treaty, 
— the interest of the research for the steel industry 
(producers and consumers) of the Community, 
— the value of the research in relation to the main 
objectives of the programme (outlined above), 
— the advantages (added value) offered by undertaking 
the research at a Community level from the point of 
view of efficiency and financing or from the scientific 
and technical point of view compared with effort at 
an individual level. 
IV. Orientation of collaborative research 
In the application of these selection criteria and taking 
into account the two major objectives mentioned in 
section II regarding improved cost-competitiveness in the 
production and processing of steel and the stimulation of 
steel consumption, the priorities for collaborative 
research over the period 1986 to 1990, are: 
A. For production and processing of steel 
For the industry's energy requirements, coal will remain 
the primary source and further research will be directed 
at: 
— energy saving and substitution, 
— direct use of coal both in existing and in new 
production technologies. 
(*) OJ No C 208, 4. 8. 1983, p. 3. Regarding iron ore, the trend to use high-quality 
materials will continue but procedures will be needed in 
the future to permit the blast furnace to operate with 
lower quantities of them. 
As increasing quantities of nuclear energy become 
available in the Community, attention will be focused 
on: 
— production technologies combining coal and 
electricity, 
— development and application of plasma metallurgy. 
In steel-making, continuous casting will remain a key 
area for research to include: 
— improving casting machine performance (including 
product quality) and increasing casting speed, 
— extending the range of steel grades that can be cast 
continuously, 
— developing simpler and less costly machines with the 
capacity of producing thin sections. 
Efforts to increase yield in steel-making have 
implications for scrap availability thus raising problems 
connected with: 
— scrap quality and up-grading techniques, 
— residual elements, 
— utilization of alternative materials e.g. pre-reduced 
iron. 
In rolling, priority will be given to: 
— the integration of the continuous casting machine 
with the rolling mill ('hot connection'), 
— improved control of dimensional tolerances, 
— greater uniformity of quality of rolling-mill products. 
Finally, a major contribution to technological innovation 
in the industry will stem from the wider application of 
computer process control systems. 
B. For stimulation of steel consumption 
In order to promote the qualities of steel, which because 
of its properties is still an essential material in the 
development of modern technologies, and to thwart 
attempts to replace it by other materials (aluminium, 
plastics, etc.), the long-term costeffectiveness 
of which still has to be demonstrated by an 
overall economic evaluation (cost of raw materials, 
processing, fabricating, recycling, etc.), it is essential to 
continue research on the specific parameters of steel, in 
particular: 
16.11.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 294/5 
— basic metallurgical research, 
— the development of grades that can withstand 
corrosive environments, 
— the design and development of clad steel, 
— the design of alloys meeting specific requirements, 
— the regularity of product characteristics and 
tolerances, 
— the improvement of the quality and reliability of 
measurements, 
— the preparation and distribution of 'practical guides 
for users'. 
The fields of application to be given priority are: 
— means of transport, 
— structural steelwork and infrastructure in general, 
— energy, 
— packaging, 
— tooling and engineering. 
As regards the use of steel, existing contacts with fabri­
cators and consumers must be intensified, in particular to 
ensure better transmission of information and wider avail­
ability of research results. In brief, efforts must be made to obtain: 
— increased knowledge of the properties of steels, 
— greater competitiveness of steels and components, 
— better quality and reliability of products, 
— more advanced standardization and harmonization of 
recommendations and codes. 
Against the current general and more particularly 
economic background, the following must be taken into 
account: 
— the cost of energy, 
— environmental problems, 
— savings in alloying elements. 
As far as the necessary funds are concerned, it should be 
realized that support for research is a vital factor for the 
Community steel industry. By way of comparison, the 
Japanese steel industry spends approximately 1,2 to 
1,5 % of its annual sales revenue on research and 
development, about twice as much as Europe. 
That is why a forceful R&D policy in the steel industry, 
bearing in mind all the random fluctuations in the 
current economic situation, requires the Commission to 
grant to steel research' and development an amount of 
aid that will progressively be increased in real terms.