EUROPEAN UNION – SAFEGUARD MEASURES ON CERTAIN STEEL PRODUCTS REQUEST FOR CONSULTATIONS BY TURKEY
Document: REQUEST FOR CONSULTATIONS BY
Date: 19 March 2020
Document codes: WT/DS595/1; G/L/1355; G/SG/D64/1
Complainant: Turkey
Respondent: EU
Third parties: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, UAE, United Kingdom, U.S.
Dispute stage: Panel
Agreements cited: Art. I:1, II:1(b), XIII:1, XIII:2, XIX:1  GATT 1994Art. 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1(a), 4.1(b), 4.1(c), 4.2(a), 4.2(b), 4.2(c), 5.1, 5.2, 6, 7.1, 7.4, 9.1  Safeguards

EUROPEAN UNION – SAFEGUARD MEASURES ON CERTAIN STEEL PRODUCTS
REQUEST FOR CONSULTATIONS BY TURKEY
The following communication, dated 13 March 2020, from the delegation of Turkey to the delegation
of the European Union, is circulated to the Dispute Settlement Body in accordance with Article 4.4
of the DSU.

My authorities have instructed me to request consultatio ns with the European Union pursuant to
Articles 1 and 4 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes
("DSU"), Article XXIII:1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 ("GATT 1994") and
Article 14 of the Agreement on Safeguards , concerning the provisional and definitive safeguard
measures imposed by the European Union on imports of certain steel products and the investigation
that led to the imposition of those measures.

The Government of Turkey ("Turkey") cons iders that these measures are inconsistent with the
Agreement on Safeguards and the GATT 1994.

I. BACKGROUND AND MEASURES AT ISSUE
1.1 Initiation of the investigation
1. On 26 March 2018, the European Commission1 published a "Notice of initiation of a safeguard
investigation concerning imports of steel products" in the Official Journal of the European Union
whereby it initiated an investigation with a view to impose safeguard measures on imports of certain
steel products. The safeguard investigation has been init iated ex officio by the
European Commission.2 In its Notice of Initiation, the European Commission identified 26 products
under investigation that were listed together with their relevant tariff codes in Annex I to the Notice.
On 27 March 2018, the European Union notified the WTO Committee on Safeguards of the initiation
of the investigation.3
2. On 28 June 2018, the European Commission published a Notice whereby it extended the scope
of the investigation by including two additional product categories, namely product category
numbers 27 and 28, and provided clarification concerning product categories 1, 4 and 7. 4 Those
amendments were notified by the European Union to the WTO Committee on Safeguards.5

1 The measures at issue were imposed pursuant to an investigation conducted by the European
Commission.
2 Notice of initiation of a safeguard investigation concerning imports of steel products, Official Journal of
the European Union, C 111, 26 March 2018, pp. 29-35 ("Notice of Initiation").
3 Notification under Article 12.1(a) of the Agreement on Safeguards on initiation of an investigation and
the reason for it, European Union (Certain steel products), G/SG/N/6/EU/1, 27 March 2018.
4 Notice amending the notice of initiation of a safeguard investigation concerning the imports of steel
products, Official Journal of the European Union, C 225, 28 June 2018, pp. 54-56 ("Amended Notice of
Initiation").
5 Notification under Article 12.1(a) of the Agreement on Safeguards on initiation of an investigation and
the reason for it, European Union (Certain steel products), Supplement, G/SG/N/6/EU/1/Suppl.1,
29 June 2018.
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1.2 Preliminary determination
3. On 16 July 2018, the European Union notified the WTO Committee on Safegua rds of its
decision to impose provisional safeguard measures.6 On 17 July 2018, the European Union adopted
a regulation imposing provisional safeguard measures ("EU provisional measures") on the imports
of 23 out of the 28 product categories concerned.7 No provisional measures were imposed on product
categories 10, 11, 19, 24 and 27 given that, according to the European Commission 's preliminary
analysis, no increase in imports could be observed over the period concerned (i.e. 2013 -2017) for
those five product categories.8 Regarding the 23 other product categories, the European Commission
concluded that there had been an increase of imports in absolute terms when examined on a global
basis.9 Regarding the injury analysis, the European Commission examined the situation of the Union
steel industry at a global level but also individually for the 23 product categories. The
European Commission concluded that although the Union steel industry had partially recovered for
some product categories, the Union steel industry was in a situation of threat of serious injury and
that this situation was likely to develop into actual serious injury in the foreseeable future. Given
the critical circumstances, the European Commission considered that provisional safeguard
measures should be taken.10
4. The EU provisional measures were imposed in the form of a tariff -rate quota (" TRQ") per
product category, which was calculated on the basis of the average of the annual level of imports in
the years 2015, 2016, and 2017.11 In the event that a respective TRQ would become exhausted, an
additional duty of 25% on imports of that product category had to be paid. 12 The EU provisional
measures were applied for a duration of 200 days from the date of entry into force of the EU
provisional measures.13
5. The European Union exempted from the application of the EU provisional measures imports
from developing countries (which are WTO Members), where the share of imports of a particular
product from a developing country Member into the EU did not exceed 3% a nd the collective share
of imports from such developing countries did not account for more than 9% of total EU imports of
the product category concerned. 14 Imports from the European Economic Area (EEA) countries
(Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) were also exempted from the application of the EU provisional
measures on account of the close integration of the EU and EEA markets, the overall figures of
imports from these countries, and the low risk of trade diversion.15
6. On 13 November 2018, the European Unio n decided to exempt imports from South Africa
from the application of the EU provisional measures. The European Union concluded that the
exclusion of imports from South Africa from the scope of the EU provisional measures did not change
the overall trends of imports for product categories 8 and 9, and did not alter the conclusions as
regards the impact of other factors on the situation of the Union industry.16

6 Notification under Article 12.4 of the Agreement on Safeguards before taking a provisional safeguard
measure referred to in Article 6, Notification pursuant to Article 9, Footnote 2 of the Agreement on Safeguards
(Certain steel products), European Union, G/SG/N/11/EU/1, 18 July 2018.
7 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1013 of 17 July 2018 imposing provisional safeguard
measures with regard to imports of certain steel products, Official Journal of the European Union, L 181,
18 July 2018, pp. 39-83 ("EU Provisional Measures Regulation").
8 EU Provisional Measures Regulation, recital 24.
9 EU Provisional Measures Regulation, recitals 26-29.
10 EU Provisional Measures Regulation, recitals 69 and 96.
11 EU Provisional Measures Regulation, recitals 93 and 98.
12 EU Provisional Measures Regulation, recitals 99 and 111; Article 1(3).
13 EU Provisional Measures Regulation, Article 1(1).
14 EU Provisional Measures Regulation, recital 119. Annex IV to the EU Provisional Measures Regulation
contains a list of products originating in developing countries to which the provisional measures apply.
15 EU Provisional Measures Regulation, recital 121.
16 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1712 of 13 November 2018 amending Implementing
Regulation (EU) 2018/1013 imposing provisional safeguard measures with regard to imports of certain steel
products, Official Journal of the European Union, L 286, 14 November 2018, pp. 17-19 ("EU Amended
Provisional Measures Regulation"), recitals 5-6.
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1.3 Definitive determination
7. On 2 January 2019, the European Union notified the WTO Committee on Safegu ards of its
intention to impose definitive measures and offered consultations to other WTO Members. 17 On
31 January 2019, the European Union adopted a regulation imposing definitive safeguard measures
("the EU definitive measures") for a period of three yea rs, including the period of imposition of the
provisional measures, the measures thereby being set to expire on 30 June 2021.18
8. For the purposes of its definitive determination, the European Commission made an overall
analysis of the increase in imports for the 28 product categories concerned as well as for each of the
three product families that it had defined for that stage of the investigation. 19 The EU definitive
measures were imposed on 26 out of the 28 product categories, product categories 11 and 23 being
excluded from the scope of the EU definitive measures due to the European Commission 's finding
that imports of these two product categories had decreased in absolute terms from 2013 to the most
recent period ("MRP"), i.e. July 2017 – June 2018. 20 For the other 26 product categories, the
European Commission concluded that there had been an increase of imports both in absolute and
relative terms when examined on a combined basis as well as when examined at the level of each
of the three product families. The injury analysis was made by the European Commission on a
combined basis as well as at the level of the three product families for the period 2013 - 2017. The
European Commission concluded that the Union steel industry was in a situation of threat of serious
injury and that the situation was likely to develop into actual serious injury in the foreseeable future,
in the absence of safeguard measures.
9. The EU definitive measures were imposed in the form of a TRQ for each of the 26 product
categories. The level of the TRQs was established on the basis of the average imports per product
category in the period 2015-2017 plus 5%.21 The European Union allocated a country-specific TRQ
to countries whose share of imports of a particular product category was more than 5% of the total
imports of that product category, based on the volume of imports into the European Union over the
last three years preceding t he imposition of the measures. 22 All other countries whose imports to
the European Union were below the 5% threshold were thus subject to a global TRQ which was
established equally for each quarter of the period of imposition and available on a first -come-first-
served basis.23 For product category 1, the European Union established only a global TRQ.
10. TRQs were established for the following three periods: from 2 February 2019 to 30 June 2019;
from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020; and from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.24 Should any of the TRQs
become exhausted in each of the periods, the European Union then levied an additional duty of 25%
on any additional imports.25 An exporting country with a country-specific TRQ for a particular product
category was also allowed to use the global TRQ during the last quarter of each period.26
11. The European Union provided for the progressive liberalisation of the definitive measures, by
increasing the level of the TRQ by 5% after each year of application. 27 However, that pace of
liberalisation was reduced following a review investigation as will be explained below.
12. The European Union excluded from the scope of the EU definitive measures imports from
countries of the European Economic Area and from countries with which the European Union has
signed an Economic Partnership Agreement that was currently in force. The European Union also

17 Notification under Article 12.1(b) of the Agreement on Safeguards on finding a serious injury or threat
thereof caused by increased imports, Notification of a proposal to impose a measure, Notification pursuant to
Article 9, Footnote 2 of the Agreement on Safeguards, European Union (Certain Steel Products),
G/SG/N/10/EU/1, 4 January 2019 and G/SG/N/10/EU/1/Suppl.1, 7 February 2019.
18 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/159 of 31 January 2019 imposing definitive
safeguard measures against imports of certain steel products, Official Journal of the European Union, L 31, 1
February 2019, pp. 27-74 ("EU Definitive Measures Regulation").
19 EU Definitive Measures Regulation, recitals 19-22.
20 EU Definitive Measures Regulation, recital 31.
21 EU Definitive Measures Regulation, recital 144.
22 EU Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(2) and recital 147.
23 EU Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(3) and recital 147.
24 EU Definitive Measures Regulation, recital 187.
25 EU Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(6), recitals 177 and 180.
26 EU Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(5) and recital 150.
27 EU Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(1) and recital 188.
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excluded imports from developing country WTO Members per product provided that they satisfied
the conditions set out in Article 9.1 of the Agreement on Safeguards.28
13. On 26 April 2019, the European Commission published a Notice concerning the potential
combined effects of anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures with the safeguard measures on certain
steel products,29 indicating its intention to assess the effects of cumulating safeguard measures with
anti-dumping and anti -subsidy measures. On 3 September 2019, the European Commission
published a regulation so as to put in place measures to prevent the concurrent application with the
safeguard measures of existing ant i-dumping and/or countervailing measures. 30 In particular, the
European Commission decided that for the product categories concerned, "the full above-quota tariff
duty should be due, topped-up by the difference between the above-quota tariff duty and the level
of the higher of the anti-dumping/anti-subsidy in place".31
1.4 Review determinations
14. On 17 May 2019, the European Commission initiated a review of the EU definitive measures32
which was notified to the WTO Committee on Safeguards on 20 May 2019. 33 Based on the findings
of this review, on 26 September 2019, the European Union adopted a regulation adjusting the
definitive measures ("EU adjusted definitive measures") in a number of respects. 34 In particular,
the European Union decided that the liberalisation r ate of the TRQ will be decreased from 5% to
3%35. The European Union introduced a 30% maximum usage limit of the residual TRQ of the last
quarter of each year per country for product categories 13 and 16 36 and decided that, for product
category 1, no country shall be allowed to use more than 30 % of the TRQ available in each of the
quarters.37 In addition, the European Union replaced the existing country-specific TRQs with a single
global TRQ for product category 25 38 and made imports falling under product cat egory 4.B subject
to an end-use authorisation.39 Finally, the European Union amended the list of developing countries
excluded from the scope of the safeguard measures by including within the scope of the measures
certain developing countries exceeding the 3 % threshold of imports in 2018 per product category.40
15. On 19 December 2019, the European Union notified the WTO Committee on Safeguards of its
intention to further amend the definitive measures.41 On 15 January 2020, the European Commission

28 EU Definitive Measures Regulation, recitals 190-193.
29 Notice concerning the potential combined effects of anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures with the
safeguard measures on certain steel products, Official Journal of the European Union, C 146, 26 April 2019,
pp. 5-8.
30 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1382 of 2 September 2019 amending certain
Regulations imposing anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures on certain steel products subject to safeguard
measures, Official Journal of the European Union, L 227, 3 September 2019 ("Steel Products Double Remedy
Regulation"), pp. 1-25.
31 Steel Products Double Remedy Regulation, recital 17.
32 Notice of initiation concerning the review of the safeguard measures applicable to imports of certain
steel products, Official Journal of the European Union, C 169, 17 May 2019, pp. 9-15 ("Notice of Review
Initiation"). The five grounds of review included: (i) level and allocation of TRQ for a number of specific product
categories; (ii) crowding-out of traditional trade flows; (iii) potential detrimental effects in achieving the
integration objectives pursued with preferential trading partners; (iv) update of the list of developing WTO
member countries excluded from the scope of the measures based on their most recent level of imports; and
(v) other changes of circumstances that may require an adjustment to the level of allocation of the TRQ.
33 Notification under Article 12.1(c) of the Agreement on Safeguards upon taking a decision to initiate a
review investigation of a safeguard measure, European Union (Certain steel products), Supplement,
21 May 2019, G/SG/N/10/EU/1/Suppl.2.
34 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1590 of 26 September 2019 amending
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/159 imposing definitive safeguard measures against imports of certain
steel products, Official Journal of the European Union, L 248, 27 September 2019, pp. 28-64 ("EU Reviewed
Definitive Measures Regulation"). Notification under Article 12.1(c) of the Agreement on Safeguards (review
investigation of a measure), Notification pursuant to Article 9, footnote 2 of the Agreement on Safeguards,
European Union, Supplement, 15 August 2019, G/SG/N/10/EU/1/Suppl.3 and 2 October 2019,

35 EU Reviewed Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(2)(b).
36 EU Reviewed Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(1)(b).
37 EU Reviewed Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(1)(a).
38 EU Reviewed Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(1)(a).
39 EU Reviewed Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(1)(a).
40 EU Reviewed Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1(2)(a).
41 Notification under Article 12 of the Agreement on Safeguards, European Union, Supplement,
G/SG/N/10/EU/1/Suppl.5, 19 December 2019.
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adopted a regu lation amending the definitive safeguard measures. 42 In particular, the
European Commission withdrew the end-use authorisation procedure for product category 4.B and
reallocated the TRQ volumes for Korea between product categories 4.A and 4.B. 43 The
European Union notified these amendments to the WTO Committee on Safeguards on
22 January 2020.44
16. On 14 February 2020, the European Commission initiated a second review of the definitive
safeguard measures.45
17. The measures at issue in this dispute cover all decisions, notices, notifications and regulations
mentioned above as well as any amendments, supplements, reviews, replacement, renewals,
extensions, implementing measures or any other related measures taken by the European Union in
relation to the investigation and/or the safeguard measures at issue.
I. Legal Basis
18. According to Article 11.1(a) of the Agreement on Safeguards, a Member shall not take or seek
a safeguard action unless such action conforms with the provisions of Article XIX of the GATT 1994
applied in accordance with the Agreement on Safeguards.
19. Turkey is deeply concerned by the safeguard measures imposed by the European Union on
imports of certain steel products and the underlying investigation that led to the imposition of those
measures. Specifically, those measures are inconsistent with the European Union's obligations under
the GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards and in particular with:
- Articles 2.1, 3.1, 4.1(b), 4.1(c), 4.2(a), 4.2(b), 4.2(c), 6 and 9.1 of the Agreement on
Safeguards and Article XIX:1(a) of the GATT 1994, because the European Union failed
to make reasoned and adequate findings and conclusions with respect to its
determinations relating to the products concerned, the domestic like products and the
domestic industry. Among others, the European Union failed to define the products
concerned in a consistent manner throughout the investigation and erred in imposing
different safeguard measures on each of the product categories conc erned while it did
not carry out its investigation for each of the product categories separately;
- Articles 3.1 and 4.2(c) of the Agreement on Safeguards and Article XIX:1(a) of the
GATT 1994, because the European Union failed to make reasoned and adequate findings
and conclusions with respect to its determinations as to the unforeseen developments
and as to how those unforeseen developments resulted in increased imports of the
products concerned threatening to cause serious injury to domestic producers;
- Articles 3.1 and 4.2(c) of the Agreement on Safeguards and Article XIX:1(a) of the
GATT 1994 because the European Union failed to make reasoned and adequate findings
and conclusions with respect to its determinations as to the effect of the obligations
incurred under the GATT 1994 and how that effect has resulted in increased imports of
the products concerned threatening serious injury to domestic producers;
- Articles 2.1, 3.1, 4.2(a), 4.2(b) and 4.2(c) of the Agreement on Safeguards and Article
XIX:1(a) of the GATT 1994 because the European Union failed to make reasoned and

42 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/35 of 15 January 2020 amending Implementing
Regulation (EU) 2019/159 imposing definitive safeguard measures against imports of certain steel products,
Official Journal of the European Union, L 12, 16 January 2020, pp.13-16 ("EU Amendment of Reviewed
Definitive Measures Regulation").
43 EU Amendment of Reviewed Definitive Measures Regulation, Article 1 and recital 7.
44 Notification under Article 12 of the Agreement on Safeguards, European Union, Supplement,
G/SG/N/10/EU/1/Suppl.6, 22 January 2020.
45 Notice of initiation concerning a review of the safeguard measures applicable to imports of certain
steel products, Official Journal of the European Union, C 51, 14 February 2020, pp. 21-25 ("Notice of Second
Review Initiation"). The five grounds of review include: (i) level and allocation of TRQ for a number of specific
product categories; (ii) crowding-out of traditional trade flows; (iii) potential detrimental effects in achieving
the integration objectives pursued with preferential trade partners; (iv) update of the list of developing WTO
member countries excluded from the scope of the measures based on their most recent level of imports; and
(v) other changes of circumstances that may require an adjustment to the level of allocation of the TRQ.
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adequate findings and conclusions in its determinations with respect to the increase in
imports of the products concerned, in absolute terms or relative to domestic production;
- Articles 2.1, 3.1, 4.1(b), 4.2(a), 4.2(b) and 4.2(c) of the Agreement on Safeguards
and Article XIX:1(a) of the GATT 1994 because the European Union failed to make
reasoned and adequate findings and conclusions with respect to its determinations as
to the existence of a threat of serious injury to the domestic industry;
- Articles 2.1, 3.1, 4.1(b), 4.2(a), 4.2(b) and 4.2(c) of the Agreement on Safeguards
and Article XIX:1(a) of the GATT 1994, because the European Union failed to make
reasoned and adequate findi ngs and conclusions with respect to its determinations of
the causal link between the increase in imports and the threat of serious injury to the
domestic industry. In particular, there are no reasoned and adequate findings and
conclusions on the causal relationship between the increased imports and the threat of
serious injury to the domestic industry nor explanations as to how the threat of serious
injury to the domestic industry caused by factors other than imports was not attributed
to the increased imports;
- Articles 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6 and 9.1 of the Agreement on Safeguards and
Article XIX:1(a) of the GATT 1994, because the European Union imposed the provisional
and definitive safeguard measures on imports from certain countries only, excluding
some developing countries as well as certain countries with which the European Union
has concluded Free Trade Agreements. Furthermore, the European Union failed to
respect the required parallelism between the substantive evaluation supporting its
determinations and the measures imposed;
- Articles 3.1, 4.2(c), 5.1, 5.2 and 7.1 of the Agreement on Safeguards and
Article XIX:1(a) of the GATT 1994 because the European Union failed to determine the
quotas and allocate them among countries having a substantial interest in supplying
the products concerned in accordance with the requirements set therein. The European
Union also imposed the safeguard measures beyond the extent necessary to prevent
serious injury and to facilitate adjustment, among others because of the measures it
has taken with respect to imports of steel products which are subject to both
anti-dumping or countervailing measures and the safeguard measures;
- Articles 3.1, 4.2(c), 7.1 and 7.4 of the Agreement on Safeguards and Article XIX:1(a)
of the GATT 1994, because, following the first review of the definitive measures, the
European Union reduced the pace of liberalization of the definitive safeguard measures
and made the safeguard measures more trade restrictive;
- Article I:1 of the GATT 1994 because, when imposing the safeguard measures, the
European Union has exempted imports originating in certain countries from the scope
of application of the measures, and this constitutes an advantage that has not been
accorded immediately and unconditiona lly to the like products originating in other
WTO Members;
- Article II:1(b) of the GATT 1994 because, through the imposition of the safeguard
measures at issue, the European Union imposed other duties or charges contrary to the
second sentence of that provision;
- Article XIII:1 and Article XIII:2, including paragraph (d), of the GATT 1994, because
the European Union imposed TRQs on imports from certain countries only and failed to
allocate TRQs among the exporting countries, including countries having a substantial
interest in supplying the products concerned, in accorda nce with the requirements set
in the mentioned provisions.
20. The European Union's measures nullify and impair the benefits accruing to Turkey, directly or
indirectly, under the covered agreements.
21. Turkey reserves the rights to raise additional factual and le gal matters during the course of
the consultations and in any future request for the establishment of a panel.
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22. Turkey looks forward to receiving the European Union's reply to this request for consultations
and to agreeing upon a mutually acceptable date for the consultations.