The European Steel Association (EUROFER) stated that applying the lesser-duty-rule to each and every dumping investigation simply reduces antidumping measures to levels that blatantly fail to restore a fair import price in the EU steel market. According to EUROFER, other economies do not grant such a favor to unfair imports and some of the EU member states with steel production and jobs, most notably the UK, The Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Slovenia, continue blocking an agreement within the EU Competitiveness Council to remove this rule.
Axel Eggert, EUROFER director general, stated that by blocking the lifting of the lesser-duty-rule, these member states deliberately deprive the European steel sector of the chance to receive effective and legitimate remedy against massive dumping. It is vital that improvements in current antidumping practices and reform of the current framework are pursued in parallel.