ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES 
DE LA COMMISSION 
 
 
 
COLLECTION RELIEE DES 
DOCUMENTS "COM" 
 
 
 
 
COM ( 83) 727 
 
 
 
Vol. 1983/02 59 
  
 
Disclaimer  
Conformément au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983 
concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique 
européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, 
p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003 
(JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents 
classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit 
règlement. 
In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 
concerning the openi ng to the public of the historical archives of the European Economic 
Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as 
amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 
27.9.2003, p. 1), this f ile is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this 
file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.  
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom 1. 
Februar 198 3 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen  
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI. L 43 vom 15.2.1983,  
S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. September 2003  
(ABI. L 243 vom 27 .9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit  
erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5  
der genannten Verordnung freigegeben.  
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM( 8 5)  727 final  
Brussels, 28 November I 9 8 3
COMMISSION COMMUNICATION TO THE COUNCIL
STEEL POLICY - SHORT-TERM MEASURES
COM(83) 727 final

COMMISSION COMMUNICATION TO THE COUNCIL  
STEEL POLICY: SHORT-TERM MEASURES
I. To facilitate the Council's discussion on 29 November 1 9 8 3  
on the Commission proposals in the communication of  
November,* the Commission feels it well to restate the  
principles by which it has been guided in its approach to  
this matter.
The slide in the prices of steel products (especially flats  
and heavy sections) since the beginning of the second half-year  
is due to a combination of factors:
.  heavy withdrawals from stocks by producers and dealers when  
the idea was current early in the summer in some quarters that  
a failure of political will could mean suspension of the  
production quota system;
.  disagreements among the steel firms, which resulted in  
definite disruption of traditional trade and sales flows;
. the effect of imports from some third countries, which  
though limited were concentrated in a short period in some  
Member States;
•  .  the temptation to firms to recoup the loss of earnings
from falling prices by overproducing, thereby causing prices  
to fall still faster. The temptation was increased by the  
fact that in at least one case the Commission is having the  
utmost difficulty in recovering the fines imposed for  
infringing the quota system.
... /...
* Doc. COM(83)691 final.

2
In face of a situation where firms were unable to find the  
money for the vitally necessary restructuring drive, thus  
jeopardizing the great object of Community steel policy, the  
Commission could not stand idly by. It absolutely had to  
reinforce the existing arrangements by measures to stabilize  
the market, designed to secure better control of tonnages and  
prices and better discipline on the part of importers and  
producers.
II. The measures outlined in the Commission's communication of
'ik November were for this purpose.
On the external side, the main aim is stricter management  
of the understandings in line with earlier Council decisions:  
preservation of the traditional trade flows, intensification of  
solidarity among Member States by effective checking for compliance  
with the "triple clause," and speedier action in the event of  
infringement.
The Commission trusts the Council will confirm these aims  
in adopting its brief for the Commission to negotiate the 1 9 8^ 
understandings with the third countries.
To the same end it will very shortly be making proposals  
for the monitoring of imports of seconds, which it will ask the  
Council to ensure the national authorities' cooperation in  
implementing.
It is convinced that the accompanying certificates it is  
planning to give a clearer picture of the circulation of steel  
products in the Community (see III) will be a valuable means of  
checking that Member States' traditional import flows are being  
adhered to.

3
This proposal will help to ensure fuller sets of the figures  
needed for the management of the understandings— figures the  
Commission would like Government departments to supply more  
promptly.
III. It is not, however, the sole purpose of the accompanying  
certificates to detect deflections of goods imported from  
third countries. At the end of last year the Commission moved  
to gain a clearer picture of intra-Community trade flows in  
order to ensure that some firms did not, under cover of the  
Article 58 system, disturb the market by appreciably altering  
the destinations of their products within the Community. To  
this end it adopted under Article *+7 a Decision on producers’  
delivery statistics,* and submitted for the Council's assent  
under Article 95 a Recommendation to the same effect concerning  
dealers. The Recommendation was not accepted, so the Commission  
amended and supplemented it by a proposal for the introduction of  
an accompanying certificate; the corresponding Decision, likewise  
under Article 95 of the Treaty, will be officially adopted by the  
Commission in the next few days. It will be submitted forthwith  
to the Council for assent, and since the matter has been long and  
exhaustively thrashed out in the Council machinery in the past  
year, on the basis of working papers, the Commission expects that  
assent to be forthcoming very quickly. Naturally as soon as assent  
is obtained the Commission will in parallel adopt a like Decision  
concerning producers, under Article k7 of the Treaty, amending and  
superseding the Decision adopted in December 1982.
• ../.··
‘Decision 3^2 8/8 2/ECSC,  17-12.82 (OJ L 370, 29-12.82).

The implementation of the two Decisions, concerning dealers  
and producers respectively, will afford the Commission and the  
Member States a clear picture of the circulation of steel products  
in the Community, and should any irregularity be observed the  
Commission would be able to take the necessary steps under the  
Article 58 system to correct it.
IV. In addition to these monitoring arrangements it has been
found essential in the case of flat products and heavy  
sections* to impose minimum prices in order to halt the slide in  
prices actually charged. The set of measures the Commission plans  
to introduce in this connection comprises fixing a floor level for  
prices, requiring firms to lodge deposits with Governments, and  
having an independent body monitor the invoicing of and collection  
of payment for the products in question. As from past experience  
it considered the two latter measures necessary and integral to  
the institution of minimum prices, the Commission intended to  
present the whole corpus of measures in a Decision under Article 61  
of the Treaty, which necessitated consulting the Council and the  
Consultative Committee.
In view of the opinion of the Council’s Legal Service,  
shared by all the Member States, that this might not be sufficient  
legal basis, the Commission might consider dividing its proposal  
into two, the Decision introducing and fixing the level of minimum  
prices to be taken under Article 61 and the other measures necessary  
to its implementation (the deposit arrangement and the closer  
monitoring of firms) under Articles 61 and 91 together. The  
Decisions would of course be taken simultaneously, and the Commission  
is most anxious that the assent required under Article 95 should be  
given as speedily as possible in order that these emergency measures  
may be taken with the utmost dispatch.
* Having contacted the leading producers, and again carefully  
considered the behaviour of the market, the Commission decided,  
as intended in its Decision of 1^.11.83, to include heavy sections  
along with the main flat products in the minimum price system.
This will therefore cover the products in Categories la, lb,  II  
and III in Decision 2 1 7 7/8 3/ECSC.

5
V. It is imperative to proceed quickly. The Commission realizes
that it is now physically impossible to institute the above  
arrangements by 1 December. But whatever happens they must be  
in force by the end of the year, for the decisions required by  
the Council's own schedule, both on restructuring and on the  
continuance of the Article 58 measures, cannot be taken unless  
the steel market and the firms' financial prospects improve in  
the coming weeks.
The Commission accordingly trusts that the Council's  
assent required by the Treaty will be given as soon as the  
documents are officially forwarded, so that it can itself take  
the relevant Decisions around mid-December: it plans to stress  
their coherence and interrelation— underscored in its communication  
of 1*f November and in the measures themselves— by adopting them  
simultaneously, since only it they come together can they  
have the desired impact.