The EC has published the quotas under the new steel safeguard measures

The European Commission has published an implementing regulation setting out the allocation of steel import tariff quotas amongst the EU’s trading partners.

As noted, half of the EU’s annual import quota (18.3 million tonnes) is reserved exclusively for partners under free trade agreements. The remaining 9.15 million tonnes will be available to all trading partners without discrimination, including those with a free trade agreement.

“Thus, the EU’s free trade agreement partners will retain a significantly larger share of access to the EU market than the average 47 per cent reduction provided for in the steel regulation,” the EC statement reads.

Under the implementing regulation, the total annual import quota for steel products from Ukraine stands at 1.050 million tonnes (the changes will cover 70 per cent of its historical trade flows). Ukraine will also have access to a second quota allocation, which other countries may also utilise.

The bloc’s new safeguard measures will come into force on 1 July this year. They reduce duty-free imports of 26 categories of steel products into the EU by an average of 47 per cent. Supplies exceeding the quota will be subject to a 50 per cent tariff.

According to the European Commission’s statement, a significant number of trading partners have provisionally agreed to the allocated quotas.

Under the new scheme, tariff quotas will be managed on a quarterly rather than an annual basis. Unused volumes may be carried over to the following quarter during the first year of implementation.

EEA countries are exempt from the new tariff quotas or duties. The EC justifies this approach on the grounds of their close integration into the EU’s internal market. However, to prevent producers from third countries from exploiting this exemption as a loophole, importers of metal products from the EEA will be required to provide evidence of ‘smelting and casting’.

It should be noted that, according to GMK Center data, Ukrainian import volumes in the categories covered by tariff quotas stood at 2.2 million tonnes in 2013 and fluctuated between 2.6 and 2.9 million tonnes in 2022–2025.