UNITED STATES – DEFINITIVE SAFEGUARD MEASURES ON IMPORTS OF STEEL WIRE ROD AND CIRCULAR WELDED QUALITY LINE PIPE
Document: Request for the Establishment of a Panel by the European Communities
Date: 10 August 2001
Document codes: WT/DS214/4
Complainant: EU
Respondent: U.S.
Third parties: Argentina, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico
Dispute stage: Panel
Agreements cited: Art. 2, 3.1, 3.2  SafeguardsArt. XIX:1  GATT 1994Art. 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 8.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.11  Safeguards

UNITED STATES – DEFINITIVE SAFEGUARD MEASURES
ON IMPORTS OF STEEL WIRE ROD AND
CIRCULAR WELDED QUALITY LINE PIPE
Request for the Establishment of a Panel by the European Communities
The following communication, dated 8 August 2001, from the Permanent Delegation of the
European Commission to the Chairman of the Disp ute Settlement Body, is circulated pursuant to
Article 6.2 of the DSU.
My authorities have instructed me to request the establishment of a panel pursuant to
Articles 4 and 6 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes
(DSU), Article XXIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994) and
Article 14 of the Agreement on Safeguards (SA), with regard to the definitive safeguard measure
imposed by the United States on imports of certain steel wire rod (wire rod) and the definitive
safeguard measure imposed by the United States on imports of certain circular welded carbon quality
line pipe (line pipe).
By "Proclamation 7273 of February 16, 2000 - To Facilitate Positive Adjustment to
Competition From Imports of Certain Steel Wire Rod" and the "Memorandum of February 16,
2000 - Action Under Section 203 of the Trade Act of 1974 Concerning Steel Wire Rod" by the
President of the United States, published in the Federal Register Vol. 65, No. 34, pp. 8621 to 8627
and 8629 to 8630 on 18 February 2000, the United States imposed definitive safeguard measures in
the form of a tariff rate quota on imports of wire rod effective as of 1 March 2000. The relevant
notification is contained in documents of 18 February 2000 and
 of 28 March 2000.
By "Proclamation 7274 of February 18, 2000 - To Facilitate Positive Adjustment to
Competition From Imports of Certain Circular Welded Carbon Quality Line Pipe" and the
"Memorandum of February 18, 2000 - Action Unde r Section 203 of the Trade Act of 1974
Concerning Line Pipe" by the President of the United States, published in the Federal Register Vol.
65, No. 36, pp. 9193 to 9198 on 23 February 2000, the United States imposed definitive safeguard
measures in the form of an increase in duty on imports of line pipe effective as of 1 March 2000. The
relevant notification is contained in document G/SG/N/10/USA/5 of 23 February 2000.
On 1 December 2000 the European Communities requested consultations with the United
States with a view to reaching a mutually satisfactory solution of the matter. The request, which also
contains the factual background to this dispute, was circulated in document WT/DS214/1 dated
7 December 2000. Such consultations were held on 26 January 2001 in Geneva. While consultations
have allowed a better understanding of the respective positions, they have not led to a satisfactory
resolution of the matter.

Therefore, the European Communities requests that the panel consider and find that the
United States is in breach of its obligations un der the provisions of GATT 1994 and of the SA, in
particular, but not necessarily exclusively:
— Article 2 of the SA, for erroneous and inadequate determinations concerning "imports in such
increased quantities" and "under such conditions", serious injury or threat thereof, causation
and the "like or directly competitive products". Further, the above-mentioned measures do
not respect the principle 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 3(1) and 3(2) of the SA, in particular in that the above-mentioned measures do not
adequately set forth the findings and reasoned conclusions on all pertinent issues of fact and
law, including the justification for the actual measure imposed, as well as insofar as they do
not include certain information on ground of confidentiality beyond what is permitted under
Article 3.
— Articles 4(1) and 4(2)(a), (b) and (c) of the SA, in particular in that there was no serious
injury to the domestic industry or threat thereof caused by increased imports, and that imports
from certain countries were included in the analysis of injurious imports and then excluded
from the application of the safeguard measure based on such analysis.
— Article 5(1) of the SA, in particular in that the above-mentioned measures grant relief beyond
"the extent necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate adjustment".
— Article 8(1) of the SA, in particular as regards the maintenance of the level of concessions and
other obligations, as well as trade compensation.
— Articles 12(2) in conjunction with paragraph (1), 12(3) and 12(11) of the SA, insofar as the
United States has not provided the Committee on Safeguards with all pertinent information,
and has not provided adequate opportunity for prior consultations with a view to reaching an
understanding on ways to achieve the objective set out in Article 8(1) of the SA.
— Article XIX:1 of GATT 1994, in particular in that the above-mentioned measures do not
provide a demonstration, prior to the application of the measures, that the increases in imports
and the conditions of importation of the products covered by each of the two above-
mentioned measures were the result of "unforeseen developments" and of the effect of the
United States obligations under GATT 1994.
The European Communities request that the pane l be established with the standard terms of
reference.