Source: European Parliament
While the application of EU trade defence instruments is not subject to impact assessments, the Commission confirms that in conducting the latest review investigation, it did analyse the overall EU interest, including the interests of EU industries using steel as an input for their production. In this regard, the Commission also considered the specific views of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which came forward as interested party and submitted comments on the request of the EU steel industry. ACEA was particularly concerned about potential tightening of the safeguard measure as concerns product Category cB, which includes corrosion resistant sheets used specifically by the automotive industry.
The outcome of the review regarding Category cB is that no adjustments are applied in this category so as not to unnecessarily restrict sourcing opportunities for the EU automotive industry. Although the EU automotive industry is affected by the change of the liberalisation rate to 0.1% starting 1 July 2025, the current quotas are nevertheless increasing compared with the current quarter.
In conclusion, because the measure is not tightened with regard to the product indicated as a specific concern by the ACEA, the Commission does not expect the outcome of the review to result in a sharp increase of steel prices in this category, nor to result in closures of automotive plants.