The European Commission will introduce a "melted and poured" rule as part of its steel and metals action plan, to underpin the effectiveness of its trade defence measures.
The rule will mean the origin of goods is determined by the location at which the metal is originally melted, regardless of where it was further processed. This will prevent minimal transformation to evade dumping and other duties and provide greater clarity over the origin of the product, a draft of the plan suggests.
The move will clearly have big ramifications for steel, where material produced in countries with duties, such as China, is further processed — for example, from hot-rolled into hot-dip galvanised — before being sent to the EU without paying duties.
The commission said it will "remain vigilant, as overcapacities generated under non-market conditions may also have the effect of driving unrelated market-based producers in other third countries to export quantities to the EU that are displaced from their domestic or other traditional non-European markets".
And the rule will have major implications for the EU's imports of cold-rolled and hot-dip galvanised, among other products, with one trading firm saying it would be a "game changer". European steel association Eurofer requested a melt and pour on Chinese steel as part of its request for a functional review of the steel safeguard.
The commission also will "proactively" open duty investigations based on a "threat of injury" without waiting for material injury to occur.
The carbon border adjustment mechanism will be extended to certain downstream products to prevent a shift to downstream goods that then avoid paying the carbon taxes required on upstream products, such as steel. European service centres and distributors have been requesting this move to protect themselves and their customers, which could face greater import penetration without an extension of the measures.
