The European Commission (EC) has announced that it has extended the safeguard duty investigation against certain steel imports for a maximum period of two months. The investigation was launched on March 26 and was scheduled to be completed within nine months.
EC said that the investigation entails a heavy administrative burden given the size of the investigation, the product scope (28 product categories) as well as number of interested parties (over 800 parties registered). Besides, the current provisional safeguard measures adopted against certain steel products ensures the necessary temporary protection of the EU industry, so that an extension of the current investigation would not have negative effects.
EC is expected to announce the decision by February 1, 2019 at the latest if definitive measures are adopted.