India has notified World Trade Organization (WTO) of its intentions to impose retaliatory duties against the European Union (EU) for restrictions on steel imports.
The notification states the retaliation is against definitive safeguard measures imposed by the EU on select steel products that are subject to tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) under 26 steel product categories and attract an out-of-quota duty of 25pc. These measures were levied on Feb 1, 2019 for an initial period of three years, which was to end on June 30, 2021. But on June 24, the EU extended these measures for another three years.
India claims that EU’s safeguard measures have led to a decline of exports of estimated value EUR1.168bn ($1.38bn) on which duty would be EUR292.01mn. To counter this, India proposes to suspend concessions which would cause an equivalent amount of duty collection from products imported into India from the EU.
The decision could result in the suspension of concessions or obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994). The suspension of concessions could be in the form of an increase in duty on some select products exported from the EU.
India plans to have these proposed measures in place until the EU lifts the safeguard measures imposed on Indian exports.
($1=EUR0.84)