Notice concerning the adaptation of the level of Tariff Rate Quotas under the safeguard measures on certain steel products following the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union as of 1 January 2021

(2020/C 366/12)

On 31 January 2019, the European Commission (‘the Commission’) imposed definitive safeguard measures on certain steel products (the ‘Definitive Safeguard Regulation’) (1).

Pursuant to the Withdrawal Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom (‘UK’), as of 1 January 2021, the UK will no longer be part of the EU customs territory. Therefore, as of that date the territorial scope where safeguard measures are applicable will change. In view of this change, the Commission deems it appropriate to adapt the volume of Tariff Rate Quotas (‘TRQs’) accordingly as well as the list of developing countries subject to the current measures.

1. Product scope

The product subject of this proceeding consists of certain steel products listed in Annex I to this Notice.

2. Scope of the proceeding

The scope of this TRQ adaptation for the remainder of the period of validity of the current safeguard measures (2) consists in recalculating the volume of the TRQs, having regard to the volume of imports into the Union (EU-27) considering the UK as if it were a third country in the reference period (2015-2017).

3. Methodology

The Commission considers that the most appropriate methodology to adapt TRQ volumes is the following:

(a) To establish import volumes of countries subject to measures in EU-27 during the period 2015-2017 (3);

(b) Add to this amount the level of UK imports into EU-27 in the period 2015-2017 (4);

(c) To add to the resulting amounts, per product category, a 5 % (to reflect the top-up of February 2019) and the liberalisation increases (two increases of 3 % in July 2019 and 2020 respectively);

4. Proposed new TRQs resulting from the adaptation

In light of the above methodology, the Commission hereby informs interested parties of the recalculated TRQ volumes per product category and country of origin that the Commission intends to make available from 1 January 2021 until 30 June 2021.

The changes in the volume and possibly section (either country-specific or residual quota) of the TRQs for some exporting countries in certain product categories (5) result only from the new import dataset used for quota allocation after the additions and subtractions described in Section 3 above. In no way do these changes reflect a modification of the principles governing the establishment of the TRQs as defined by the definitive measures in February 2019, namely the requirement to qualify for a country-specific TRQ (6), which remain the same.

In the absence of precise data concerning the breakdown between product category 4A and 4B in the period 2015-2017, the following methodology was applied. For countries currently under measures, the breakdown between the two product categories was based on the 2017 ratio, i.e. the only period for which the level of imports under product category 4A was precisely known (specific TARIC codes introduced at the time of the imposition of anti-dumping measures). Regarding UK imports and pending further information, the Commission assumes that imports should be equally distributed between the two product categories. Interested parties as well as the countries concerned are hereby invited to examine this proposal and, as the case may be, provide supporting evidence proving any claims to the contrary.

The recalculated TRQ volumes per product category and origin for January-March and April-June 2021 per quarters are enclosed in Annexes II and IV (7) to this Notice.

The Commission also intends to update the list of product categories originating in developing countries to which the definitive measures apply (see Annex III). The Commission intends to base its calculation on the updated data, resulting from the application of the methodology described in section 3 above to the year 2019 imports dataset.

The changes to the current list of developing countries subject to the measures would be as follows:

— United Arab Emirates would be excluded in product categories 21 and 26,

— Turkey would be excluded in product category 25A,

— China would be subject to the measures in product category 22.

4.1. Written submissions

The Commission invites interested parties to comment exclusively on the proposed new TRQs resulting from the adaptation. The scope of the comments shall be limited to the Methodology applied in order to adapt the TRQs and the list of developing countries subject to the current measures.

Any submission, and supporting evidence, must reach the Commission within 5 working days of the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

4.2. Submission of information and extension to time limits specified in this Notice

As a rule, interested parties may only submit information within the timeframes specified in this Notice. Any extension to the time limits provided for in this Notice can only be requested in exceptional circumstances and will only be granted if duly justified. Duly justified exceptional extensions to the deadline to make submission will normally be limited to 2 additional days.

4.3. Instructions for making written submissions

In view of the potential high number of submissions the Commission may receive in reaction to this Notice, the limited time available until the recalculated TRQs enter into force, and in order to ensure consistency amongst submissions and their swift handling and assessment, the Commission has designed a ‘Template that parties must use when submitting their comments’. The template is available as Annex V to this Notice.

Information submitted to the Commission for the purpose of trade defence proceeding shall be free from copyrights. Interested parties, before submitting to the Commission information and/or data which is subject to third party copyrights, must request specific permission to the copyright holder explicitly allowing the Commission (a) to use the information and data for the purpose of this trade defence proceeding; and (b) to provide the information and/or data to interested parties to this investigation in a form that allows them to exercise their rights of defence.

All written submissions provided by interested parties for which confidential treatment is requested shall be labelled ‘Limited’ (8). Parties submitting information in the course of this investigation are invited to reason their request for confidential treatment.

Parties providing ‘Limited’ information are required to furnish non-confidential summaries of it pursuant to Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9) and Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10), which will be labelled ‘For inspection by interested parties’. Those summaries should be sufficiently detailed to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence and must reach the Commission at the same time of the ‘Limited’ version.

If a party providing confidential information fails to show good cause for a confidential treatment request or does not furnish a non-confidential summary of it in the requested format and quality, the Commission may disregard such information unless it can be satisfactorily demonstrated from appropriate sources that the information is correct.

Interested parties are invited to make all submissions and requests via TRON.tdi (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI) including scanned powers of attorney. By using TRON.tdi or e-mail, interested parties express their agreement with the rules applicable to electronic submissions contained in the document ‘CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN TRADE DEFENCE CASES’ published on the website of the Directorate-General for Trade: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/june/tradoc_148003.pdf

The interested parties must indicate their name, address, telephone and a valid email address and they should ensure that the provided email address is a functioning official business email which is checked on a daily basis. Once contact details are provided, the Commission will communicate with interested parties by TRON.tdi or email only, unless they explicitly request to receive all documents from the Commission by another means of communication or unless the nature of the document to be sent requires the use of a registered mail. For further rules and information concerning correspondence with the Commission including principles that apply to submissions via TRON.tdi, interested parties should consult the communication instructions with interested parties referred to above.

Commission address for correspondence:

European Commission Directorate-General for Trade Directorate G, unit G5 Office: CHAR 03/66 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel BELGIQUE/BELGIË TRON.tdi: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi

Email address: TRADE-SAFE009-REVIEW@ec.europa.eu

5. Schedule

In order to minimise the uncertainty for economic operators, the proceeding shall be concluded in the shortest timeframe with a view to having the recalculated TRQs in place by 1 January 2021.

6. Non-Cooperation

In cases where any interested party does not provide the necessary information within the time limits, or significantly impedes the investigation, findings may be made on the basis of facts available, in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478 and Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755. Where it is found that any interested party has supplied false or misleading information, the information may be disregarded and use may be made of facts available.

7. Hearing Officer

The Hearing Officer acts as an interface between the interested parties and the Commission investigation services. The Hearing Officer reviews requests for access to the file, disputes regarding the confidentiality of documents, requests for extension of time limits and any other request concerning the rights of defence of interested parties and third parties as may arise during the proceeding.

Interested parties may request an intervention of the Hearing Officer. In principle, these interventions shall be limited to the issues that may arise during the current proceeding.

A request for an intervention of the Hearing Officer should be made in writing and should specify the reasons for the request. The Hearing Officer will examine the reasons for requests, having due regard to the interests of good administration and the timely completion of the investigation.

For further information and contact details interested parties may consult the Hearing Officer's web pages on DG Trade's website: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/trade-policy-and-you/contacts/hearing-officer/

8. Processing of personal data

Any personal data collected in this investigation will be treated in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (11).

A data protection notice that informs all individuals of the processing of personal data in the framework of Commission’s trade defence activities is available on DG Trade’s website: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/html/157639.htm

(1) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/159 of 31 January 2019 imposing definitive safeguard measures against imports of certain steel products (OJ L 31, 1.2.2019, p. 27).

(2) For quarters January-March and April-June 2021.

(3) Source: Eurostat

(4) On the basis of intra-EU trade statistics (source: Eurostat)

(5) Following the adaptation of TRQ volumes, some countries currently subject to the residual TRQ in a given category would qualify for a country-specific TRQ, and vice-versa.

(6) A country will normally benefit from a country-specific TRQ if its import share in a given product category in the reference period (with the adapted dataset) is at least 5 %.

(7) This annex concerns the access to the residual TRQ in the last quarter of a period.

(8) A ‘Limited’ document is a document which is considered confidential pursuant to Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755 and Article 3.2 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards. It is also a document protected pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

(9) OJ L 83, 27.3.2015, p. 16.

(10) OJ L 123, 19.5.2015, p. 33.

(11) Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).