Steel safeguards
The content in this section is only included to help explain the standard,
provide examples or make recommendations about use. It does not contain requirements for complying with the standard
and is not governed by the formal standards process. The information may not have been updated to accurately reflect
Government policy.This section is not part of the standard
- Safeguard categories
- Where safeguards apply
- How often safeguard quotas are defined
- What happens if a specific quota volume runs out
- How the data is structured
Steel safeguards aim to prevent dumping of steel-based products by placing a cap on the volume of steel that can be imported. The cap is fine-grained and is controlled on a quarterly basis.
A safeguard set-up is made up of:
- a punitive duty that applies to all imports,
- a quota that can override that duty for a set quarterly import volume.
Once the quota is exhausted, the punitive duty applies and the import of steel products is strongly abated. There are normally multiple quotas – one for “all countries” and then more for individual countries who are big exporters in that category.
The override behaviour is not possible using the regular tariff rules and preference codes have to be used to allow the override to happen.
Significant changes were made to the regime in Q1 2021 and a number of categories are no longer subject to safeguard. The old information which applied pre-Q1 2021 is shown on the old version of this page.
Safeguard categories
Products to which safeguards are applied are split into several categories. This is shown in the following table.
| Number | Products |
|---|---|
| 1 | Non Alloy and Other Alloy Hot Rolled Sheets and Strips |
| 2 | Non Alloy and Other Alloy Cold Rolled Sheets |
| 4A | Metallic Coated Sheets |
| 5 | Organic Coated Sheets |
| 13 | Rebars |
| 20 | Gas Pipes |
| 21 | Hollow Sections |
| 25A | Large Welded Tubes |
| 25B | Large Welded Tubes |
| 26 | Other Welded Pipes |
One quota then applies for each category for each quarter such that all the products in that category draw down from the same volume.
For each product in a category therefore receives one measure for the safeguard and then another measure for that category’s quota.
Where safeguards apply
Not all countries are subject to measures – certain developing countries are exempt. These countries are not in geographical area 5050 - Countries subject to safeguard measures (5050).
There is also a list of countries that are exempt only for certain categories. In the following table, where the county has an “X” it is subject to safeguards in that category. Where the country has a blank it is exempt from safeguards in that category.
| Category | Brazil | China | India | Indonesia | Malaysia | Saudi Arabia | Thailand | Turkey | Ukraine | UAE | Vietnam |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | X | ||||||||||
| 2 | X | X | X | X | |||||||
| 4A | X | X | |||||||||
| 5 | |||||||||||
| 13 | X | X | |||||||||
| 20 | X | X | X | ||||||||
| 21 | X | X | |||||||||
| 25A | X | X | X | ||||||||
| 25B | X | ||||||||||
| 26 | X | X | X | X |
Some of the big exporters in each category get quotas of their own so they are exempt from the ‘all countries’ quota. As well as there being a quota for ‘all countries’ there can also be separate quotas for individual geographies.
How often safeguard quotas are defined
Safeguard quotas are defined on a quarterly basis. Quarter 1 is from July to August and the next quarters continue from there.
The same quota order numbers are used across each quarter but the volume is refreshed.
What happens if a specific quota volume runs out
When the quota for a specific country has run out in Quarter 4:
- the country is added to the ‘all countries’ quota for Quarter 4
- traders can claim against the ‘all countries’ volume
There is no maximum volume they can draw out of the remaining balance.
There is no mechanism in the Tariff to show that a country should be added to a quota in response to another quota running out. This is done manually on a case by case basis.
How leftover quota volume is carried over
Any volume left in quota pots in Quarter 3 is automatically added on to quota volumes in Quarter 4. This is handled by border systems and no change in tariff data is needed.
How the data is structured
This following diagram shows an example of a commodity that is subject to steel safeguards.
The important features are:
- India is exempt from the category - so it is excluded from both the safeguard measure and the quota
- Turkey is a big exporter – it receives its own quota and is exempt from the ‘all countries’ quota
- there is only one commodity – bigger categories will have more than one and all will link to the same quotas