Notice concerning the creation of certain Tariff Rate Quotas under the steel safeguard measure in connection to the amendment to Regulation (EU) 2020/2170

(2023/C 115/06)

On 31 January 2019, the European Commission (‘the Commission’) imposed definitive safeguard measures on certain steel products (the ‘Definitive Safeguard Regulation’) (1).

On 27 February 2023, the Commission submitted a proposal to the European Parliament and the Council for an amendment of Regulation (EU) 2020/2170 as regards the application of Union tariff rate quotas and other import quotas to certain products transferred to Northern Ireland (2). According to the proposal, certain steel products originating in the United Kingdom and consigned directly from other parts of the United Kingdom into Northern Ireland should be allowed to benefit from the relevant Union tariff rate quotas when transferred to Northern Ireland. In the event that this proposal is adopted, the steel safeguard measure would need to be amended by creating dedicated Tariff Rate Quotas (‘TRQs’) for transfers of the certain steel product categories, as covered by the proposal, which originate in the United Kingdom and are consigned directly from other parts of the United Kingdom into Northern Ireland.

1.   Product scope

The amendment to the steel safeguard measure concerns only two product categories: Non Alloy and Other Alloy Quarto Plates (3) (category 7) and Angles, Shapes and Sections of Iron or Non Alloy Steel (4) (category 17).

2.   Scope of the proceeding

The scope of this proceeding is limited to the creation of two dedicated TRQs for transfers of categories 7 and 17 originating in the United Kingdom and consigned directly from other parts of the United Kingdom into Northern Ireland.

3.   Methodology

The Commission considers that the most appropriate methodology to calculate the volume for these new TRQs should be the following:

a)	To use the statistical data available (5) for the period 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2022;

b)	To annualize the data to obtain the volume that would constitute the TRQ for a year;

c)	To allocate the volumes quarterly proportionate to the number of days in each quarter.

In light of the above methodology, Annex I to this Notice contains the resulting TRQ volumes per product category and origin on an annual basis.

The proposed TRQ do not affect in any way the volumes or administration of the existing global TRQs in these two categories.

3.1.    Written submissions

The Commission invites interested parties to comment exclusively on the proposed new TRQs resulting from the adaptation. The scope of the comments shall be limited to the methodology applied in order to adapt the TRQs.

Any submission, and supporting evidence, must reach the Commission within 10 days of the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

3.2.    Submission of information and extension to time limits specified in this Notice

As a rule, interested parties may only submit information within the timeframes specified in this Notice. Any extension to the time limits provided for in this Notice can only be requested in exceptional circumstances and will only be granted if duly justified. Duly justified exceptional extensions to the deadline to make submission will normally be limited to 3 additional days.

3.3.    Instructions for making written submissions

In order to ensure consistency amongst submissions and their swift handling and assessment, the Commission has designed a Template that parties must use when submitting their comments. The template is available as Annex II to this Notice.

Information submitted to the Commission for the purpose of trade defence proceeding shall be free from copyrights. Interested parties, before submitting to the Commission information and/or data which is subject to third party copyrights, must request specific permission to the copyright holder explicitly allowing the Commission a) to use the information and data for the purpose of this trade defence proceeding and b) to provide the information and/or data to interested parties to this investigation in a form that allows them to exercise their rights of defence.

All written submissions provided by interested parties for which confidential treatment is requested shall be labelled ‘Limited’ (6). Parties submitting information in the course of this investigation are invited to reason their request for confidential treatment.

Parties providing ‘Limited’ information are required to furnish non-confidential summaries of it pursuant to Article 8 of EU Regulation 2015/478 (7) and Article 5 of EU Regulation 2015/755 (8), which will be labelled ‘For inspection by interested parties’. Those summaries should be sufficiently detailed to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence and must reach the Commission at the same time of the ‘Limited’ version.

If a party providing confidential information fails to show good cause for a confidential treatment request or does not furnish a non-confidential summary of it in the requested format and quality, the Commission may disregard such information unless it can be satisfactorily demonstrated from appropriate sources that the information is correct.

Interested parties are invited to make all submissions and requests via TRON.tdi (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI) including scanned powers of attorney. By using TRON.tdi or e-mail, interested parties express their agreement with the rules applicable to electronic submissions contained in the document ‘CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN TRADE DEFENCE CASES’ published on the website of the Directorate-General for Trade: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/june/tradoc_148003.pdf

The interested parties must indicate their name, address, telephone and a valid e-mail address and they should ensure that the provided e-mail address is a functioning official business email which is checked on a daily basis. Once contact details are provided, the Commission will communicate with interested parties by TRON.tdi or email only, unless they explicitly request to receive all documents from the Commission by another means of communication or unless the nature of the document to be sent requires the use of a registered mail. For further rules and information concerning correspondence with the Commission including principles that apply to submissions via TRON.tdi, interested parties should consult the communication instructions with interested parties referred to above.

Commission address for correspondence:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Trade

Directorate G, unit G5

Office: CHAR 03/66

1049 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

TRON.tdi: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/tron/tdi

Email address: TRADE-SAFE009-REVIEW@ec.europa.eu

4.   Schedule

If the proposal for amending the TRQ Regulation is adopted by the co-legislators, the amendment to the EU steel safeguard regulation will enter into force as soon as possible thereafter.

5.   Hearing Officer

The Hearing Officer acts as an interface between the interested parties and the Commission investigation services. The Hearing Officer reviews requests for access to the file, disputes regarding the confidentiality of documents, requests for extension of time limits and any other request concerning the rights of defence of interested parties and third parties as may arise during the proceeding.

Interested parties may request an intervention of the Hearing Officer. In principle, these interventions shall be limited to the issues that may arise during the current proceeding.

A request for an intervention of the Hearing Officer should be made in writing and should specify the reasons for the request. The Hearing Officer will examine the reasons for requests, having due regard to the interests of good administration and the timely completion of the investigation.

For further information and contact details interested parties may consult the Hearing Officer's web pages on DG Trade's website: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/trade-policy-and-you/contacts/hearing-officer/.

6.   Processing of personal data

Any personal data collected in this investigation will be treated in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9).

A data protection notice that informs all individuals of the processing of personal data in the framework of Commission’s trade defence activities is available on DG Trade’s website: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/html/157639.htm

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(1)  Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/159 of 31 January 2019 imposing definitive safeguard measures against imports of certain steel products; OJ L 31, 1.2.2019, p. 27.

(2)  COM(2023) 125 final 2023/0063 (COD), 27.2.2023

(3)  CN codes: 7208 51 20, 7208 51 91, 7208 51 98, 7208 52 91, 7208 90 20, 7208 90 80, 7210 90 30, 7225 40 12, 7225 40 40, 7225 40 60, 7225 99 00.

(4)  CN codes: 7216 31 10, 7216 31 90, 7216 32 11, 7216 32 19, 7216 32 91, 7216 32 99, 7216 33 10, 7216 33 90.

(5)  Data available from the electronic system set up on the basis of Articles 55 and 56 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015

(6)  A ‘Limited’ document is a document which is considered confidential pursuant to Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755 and Article 3.2 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards. It is also a document protected pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

(7)  OJ L 83, 27.3.2015, p. 16.

(8)  OJ L 123, 19.5.2015, p. 33.

(9)  Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).