EU implements duties on import of steel products – Serbia not on the list

Temporary safeguard measures with regard to imports of steel products, which entail automatic implementation of 25% customs duty on the import of 23 product categories, came into effect in the EU today, and Serbia is not on the list of developing countries they apply to, Tanjug reports.

The duties pertain to the import of steel products above the average import volumes in the past three years.

– In accordance with Article 18 of Regulation 2015/478 and the international obligations of the Union, the provisional measures should not apply to any product originating in a developing country as long as its share of imports of that product into the Union does not exceed 3%, provided that developing country members of the WTO with less than a 3% import share, collectively account for not more than 9 % of total Union imports of the product concerned – the EC decision says.

According to the EC decision, published in the EU Official Journal on July 18, the tariffs target steel products from 13 developing countries of the total of 121 listed.

Serbia is not on the list at all, whereas Macedonia is on the list with four product categories that have not been targeted, as are Albania and Montenegro, whose products have not been marked as potentially subject to penalties. The B&H-based portal Faktor previously reported that Serbia and B&H “are not exempt, as they are not WTO members”.

According to the decision, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein are exempt as members of the European Economic Area (EEA).

With 14 categories each, India and Turkey head the list of targeted counties on whose steel products the 25% duties will be implemented for amounts exceeding the average annual import in the past three years.

They are followed by China with 13 categories, Ukraine with 11 and Brazil with five categories of steel products targeted.

European Commission

European Union

European Economic Area

EEA

World Trade Organization

WTO

customs duties on import of steel products

EU temporary protection measures

import of steel products to the EU

export of steel products to the EU

steel

production of steel

steel products

customs duties on the import of steel and aluminum

aluminum