UNITED STATES – DEFINITIVE SAFEGUARD MEASURES ON IMPORTS OF CERTAIN STEEL PRODUCTS
Document: Request for Consultations by the European Communities
Date: 13 March 2002
Document codes: WT/DS248/1; G/L/527; G/SG/D20/1
Complainant: EU
Respondent: U.S.
Third parties: Brazil, Canada, China, Taiwan, Cuba, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela
Dispute stage: Appellate Body
Agreements cited: Art. 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9  SafeguardsArt. XIX:1  GATT 1994

UNITED STATES – DEFINITIVE SAFEGUARD MEASURES
ON IMPORTS OF CERTAIN STEEL PRODUCTS
Request for Consultations by the European Communities
The following communication, dated 7 March 2002, from the Permanent Delegation of the
European Commission to the Permanent Mission of the United States and to the Chairman of the
Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated in accordance with Article 4.4 of the DSU.
The European Communities (EC) hereby requests consultations with the Government of the
United States (US) pursuant to Article 4 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing
the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), Article XXII:1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
1994 (GATT 1994) and Article 14 of the Agreement on Safeguards with regard to the definitive
safeguard measures imposed by the US on imports of certain steel products.
Under the "Proclamation 7529 of March 5, 2002 - To Facilitate Positive Adjustment to
Competition from Imports of Certain Steel Products" and the "Memorandum of March 5, 2002 -
Action Under Section 203 of the Trade Act of 1974 Concerning Certain Steel Products by the
President of the US", published in the Federal Register Vol. 67, No. 45 of 7 March 2002, the US
imposed definitive safeguard measures in the form of an increase in duties on imports of certain flat
steel, hot-rolled bar, cold-finished bar, rebar, certain welded tubular products, carbon and alloy
fittings, stainless steel bar, stainless steel rod, tin mill products and stainless steel wire and in the form
of a tariff rate quota on imports of slabs effective as of 20 March 2002.
The EC considers that these US measures ar e in breach of the US obligations under the
provisions of GATT 1994 and of the Agreement on Safeguards , in particular, but not necessarily
exclusively, of:
– Articles 2(1) and 2(2) of the Agreement on Safeguards, because, inter alia, they are based on
deficient determinations on the like or directly competitive products, absence of "imports in
such increased quantities" and/or "under such conditions", lack of serious injury or threat
thereof, lack of causality, non-respect of the requirement of parallelism between the scope of
the imported products subject to the investigation and the scope of the imported products
subject to the application of the measures and discriminations based on the source of the
products.
– Articles 3(1) and 3(2) of the Agreement on Safeguards , because, inter alia, the US did not
allow appropriate means in which the interested parties could present evidence and their
views, the report published by the competent authorities did not set forth adequately the
findings and reasoned conclusions on all pertinent issues of fact and law, including the

justification for the actual measure imposed, as well as abusive recourse to confidentiality in
relation to disclosure of information.
– Articles 4(1) and 4(2) of the Agreement on Safeguards , because, inter alia , they are not
justified by "imports in such increased quantities" and/or "under such conditions", lack of
serious injury or threat thereof, lack of causality, and non-respect of the requirement of
parallelism between the scope of the imported products subject to the investigation and the
scope of the imported products subject to the application of the measures.
– Article 5(1) of the Agreement on Safeguards , since, inter alia, they grant relief beyond "the
extent necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate adjustment".
– Article 5(2) of the Agreement on Safeguards, as regards the allocation of the tariff rate quota
on imports of slabs.
– Article 7(1) of the Agreement on Safeguards , since, inter alia, they grant relief beyond "the
period of time necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate adjustment".
– Article 9(1) of the Agreement on Safeguards because, inter alia, they were applied against
products originating in third countries whose shares of imports of the products concerned do
not exceed 3 per cent while developing countries with less than 3 per cent import share
collectively account for not more than 9 per cent of total imports of the products concerned.
– Article I:1 of the GATT 1994, since, inter alia, the safeguard measure discriminates between
products originating in the EC and products originating in other WTO countries.
– Article XIII of the GATT 1994,as regards the al location of the tariff rate quota on imports of
slabs.
– Article XIX:1 of the GATT 1994, because, inter alia , they fail to show, prior to the
application of the measures, that the increases in imports and the conditions of importation of
the products covered by the above-mentioned measures were the result of "unforeseen
developments" and of the effect of the US obligations under the GATT 1994.
The EC looks forward to receiving the reaction of the authorities of the US to the present
request and to setting a mutually convenient date and place to begin consultations.
The EC reserves all its rights regarding the pursuit of the remedies provided for under the
Agreement on Safeguards and the Dispute Settlement Understanding.
A copy of this request is being sent to the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body and to
the Chairman of the Council for Trade in Goods and the Chairman of the Committee on Safeguards.