The European Union Council has announced that it has formally adopted its negotiating mandate on a new regulation aimed at protecting the EU steel industry from the impact of global overcapacity, marking a key step toward strengthening trade defense measures against surging low-priced imports.
Under the agreed mandate, the Council supports a reinforced safeguard framework designed to limit the inflow of steel products into the EU market. The new approach maintains tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) as the core instrument, while tightening conditions to prevent quota circumvention and sudden import surges.
Council’s adjustments
The Council has adjusted the rules on the administration of tariff quotas to ensure greater flexibility, allowing unused tariff quota volumes in one quarter to be carried over to the next quarter within the same yearly period of application of the tariff rate quota. The Council has also added a new element for consideration when quotas are amended ensuring attention is placed on the potential substantial price increases seriously undermining the competitiveness of downstream industries.
Meanwhile, the Council has clarified that the total value of adjusted quotas must be capped to remain between 15.2 million mt and 22.2 million mt.
To avoid circumvention and increase supply chain transparency, the Council has introduced significant clarifications regarding its implementation of melt and pour:
- the requirement for importers to provide evidence on the country of melt and pour will apply from October 1, 2026,
- within two years, the Commission will have to assess whether to designate the country of melt-and-pour as the basis for country-specific tariff quota allocations. If the Commission concludes that it is necessary to do so, it will present a new legislative proposal to that effect
The date for assessing the possibility of extending the scope of the regulation proposed by the EC has been moved from two years to 18 months. This also ensures that the European Commission will initiate the relevant consultation process with stakeholders by October 1, 2026.
In addition, the period for the first overall review of the regulation’s effects on the steel market and on the EU's interests has been shortened to four years from the date of entry into force, with subsequent evaluations every two years thereafter.