Call for evidence outcome

Final findings of the call for evidence into UK interest in existing EU trade remedy measures

Updated 2 May 2019

Action

1. We invite you to view the final findings of the call for evidence into UK interest in existing EU trade remedy measures.

Contact traderemedies@trade.gov.uk for any further queries.

Introduction

2. The Department for International Trade (DIT) is preparing a UK trade remedies system in readiness for the UK operating its own independent trade policy.

3. In support of this, the department ran a call for evidence from 28 November 2017 to 30 March 2018. After the publication of the provisional findings, on 24 July 2018, the call for evidence was reopened for a further month, until the 24 August 2018. The aim was to identify which UK businesses produce, in the UK, goods currently subject to EU anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures.

4. We did this in order to identify which measures the UK government should maintain. This is to provide certainty to UK manufacturing industries and avoid exposing them to material injury (injury) from known unfair trade practices.

5. We are grateful to the trade associations and other organisations which publicised the call for evidence to their members and networks, and to everyone who responded.

6. The call for evidence asked companies, which produce goods in the UK, whether they produce goods which are subject to EU trade remedy measures. They were asked to state whether they support, are neutral to, or oppose the maintaining of those measures when the UK begins to operate its own independent trade policy. They were also asked for data about their production and sales.

7. DIT used that information to assess whether the applications met the government’s criteria for maintaining a measure.

These 3 criteria are:

a. We have received an application to maintain measures from UK businesses which produce, in the UK, products subject to trade remedies measures

b. The application is supported by UK businesses which produce a sufficient proportion of those products (this mirrors the tests required by the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement, Article 5.4,, and the WTO Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement, Article 11.4, regarding opening trade remedies investigations)

c. The market share of the UK based producers of those products is above a certain level (that level has now been confirmed as at least 1%)

8. This document sets out our final findings based on the data which we received from responses to the call for evidence.

Transition reviews

9. All transitioned measures will be maintained at the same level set previously by the European Commission until the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) completes a full review based on UK-specific market data. The TRA’s reviews will decide whether transitioned trade remedy measures should continue and, if so, at what level, once the UK begins to operate its own independent trade policy.

10. This subsequent review process is designed to ensure any future measures fully reflect the UK market situation, thus demonstrating to the WTO membership, the UK’s commitment to rules-based international trade.

11. If a measure did not receive an application to be maintained, or did not meet the required criteria, it will not be maintained when the UK begins to operate its independent trade policy.

Responses from non-producers

12. The call for evidence was directed at UK businesses (or their representatives) which produce goods currently subject to EU anti-dumping measures or anti-subsidy (countervailing) measures and ongoing investigations.

13. We also asked for specific information from other businesses or organisations with an interest, within the UK and internationally, including downstream consumer and user industries.

14. The call for evidence asked specific questions and the information that non-producers provided enabled us to verify the data we had received. Non-producers were asked to provide information relevant to assessing the criteria for maintaining measures, permitting us to make an accurate assessment about whether UK producer applications met our criteria.

15. We are grateful to all respondents for their views on certain cases. At this stage in the process we have only used the data which enables us to calculate, or verify information about, our criteria: producer support for measures and the UK market share of producers.

16. We recognise that interested parties have strong views on the downstream impact of certain measures. When the TRA reviews all maintained measures, it will assess, as part of those reviews, whether measures are in the overall economic interest of the UK.

How the implementation period, Northern Ireland Protocol or Future Economic Partnership may affect this process

17. To ensure continuity for UK business, the UK will continue to prepare for a range of potential outcomes. In a ‘no deal scenario’, the earliest point at which the UK could begin to operate its own independent trade policy will be 29 March 2019.

Implementation period

18. The UK will leave the European Union on 29 March 2019. The UK and EU negotiating teams have reached agreement on the terms of an implementation period that will start on 29 March 2019 and last until 31 December 2020. During the implementation period, EU trade remedy rules and regulations will continue to apply. This would include applying new EU trade remedy measures that come into force during the implementation period.

19. For any new measures, which the EU puts in place during the implementation period, we will approach any UK producers of the affected product(s). This is to understand whether there is an interest in such measures being maintained once the UK begins to operate its independent trade policy.

20. We understand that UK production and market share of the products covered by trade remedy measures may change during the implementation period. That may mean that, towards the end of the implementation period, we will need to review some decisions about which measures we will maintain. We would do this based on up to date evidence, in discussion with relevant stakeholders. This activity will not affect the EU’s current competence, regulations and process for bringing forward new trade remedies complaints and the initiation of new investigations. UK industry should continue to approach the European Commission for the purposes of initiating new investigations until further notice.

Protocol on Northern Ireland

21. The agreed protocol guarantees that even in the unlikely event that the UK’s future relationship with the EU is not in place by the end of the implementation period, there will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland and no customs border down the Irish Sea.

22. The agreement preserves the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom, upholds the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, and ensures people and businesses that rely on an open border between the Northern Ireland and Ireland can continue living their lives and operating as they do now. It does so through a temporary single UK-EU customs territory or through an option to extend the implementation period for a short period of time until the new economic relationship is in place. The protocol also contains legally binding commitments that both the UK and EU will take the necessary steps to supersede the backstop, ensure the backstop will be temporary, and provide a mechanism which either the UK or the EU can trigger to review the arrangements.

23. During the backstop, EU trade remedy rules and regulations will continue to apply. This would include applying new EU trade remedy measures that come into force during the implementation period and temporary customs arrangement.

Future economic partnership

24. The UK and the EU will put in place ambitious customs arrangements. They will make use of all available facilitative arrangements and technologies in developing this ambitious customs arrangement, including examples of tools that the UK and the EU may draw on, such as trusted trader schemes. This is part of a comprehensive economic partnership, which will recognise the development of the UK’s independent trade policy.

Final findings

25. After the provisional findings were published (24 July 2018) the deadline for the call for evidence was extended by a month (24 August 2018) to allow for further evidence to be submitted. This was to permit stakeholders in disagreement with the findings, or who had not yet been involved in the process to provide additional evidence in support of their position as to whether a trade remedy measure should be maintained.

26. Following a wide-ranging programme of external engagement, in total we received 89 responses to the call for evidence. Of these, 52 were from producers, and 37 were from other parties.

27. Having assessed the data provided by respondents, our final findings are that 44 of the existing EU measures met our criteria. They will therefore be maintained and subsequently reviewed by the TRA to recommend the appropriate level of the trade remedy measure for the UK market, once the UK begins to operate an independent trade policy. 63 did not meet the criteria and will therefore not be transitioned.

28. On the day the UK begins operating its own independent trade policy, the additional trade remedy measures on all 63 of these measures will be terminated. This will reduce costs for UK users of these products, and lead to lower prices for UK consumers. This highlights one of the benefits of the UK being able to operate its own independent trade policy, tailored to the specific needs of the UK.

29. Our final findings differ from the provisional findings we published in July 2018. This is only where either a measure has since expired or been terminated by the European Commission, or where we received sufficient additional evidence for maintaining an existing measure in line with the criteria set out by the call for evidence (see paragraph 7).

30. The provisional decisions to terminate measures on aluminium foil in small rolls, and steel (wire) ropes and cables, have been overturned. In light of the further evidence provided, these measures will now be transitioned. A new EU measure on biodiesel from Argentina has also been added to the list and will be transitioned.

No longer included in the table are:

(i) 2 biodiesel measures against Argentina and Indonesia as they have since been repealed by the European Commission

(ii) 2 measures on ferro silicon against Egypt and Ukraine that were terminated on 5 of June 2018

(iii) 3 measures on low carbon ferro chrome against China, Russia and Turkey that expired on 23 of July 2018

(iv) 2 measures on solar panels against China that expired on 3 of September 2018

(v) 2 measures on stainless steel wires against India that expired on 9 of November 2018

Final findings - listed by name of measure

Name of measure	Case code (AD – Anti dumping, AS – Anti subsidy)	Producer application received?	Countries against which measures are applied	Producer support threshold met?	Market share threshold met?	Final finding [footnote 1]
Acesulfame potassium	AD611	No	China	NA	NA	Terminate
Aluminium foil	AD610	No	Russia	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Aluminium foil in large rolls	AD534	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Aluminium foil in small rolls	AD582	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Aluminium radiators	AD578	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Aluminium road wheels	AD541	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Ammonium nitrate	AD330	Yes	Russia	Met	Met	Maintain
Aspartame (sweetener)	AD621	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Barium carbonate	AD475	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Bicycles	AD287	Yes	China (extended to Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Tunisia)	Met	Not met	Terminate
Biodiesel	AS644	Yes	Argentina	Met	Met	Maintain
Biodiesel	AD531	Yes	USA (extended to Canada)	Met	Met	Maintain
Biodiesel	AS532	Yes	USA (extended to Canada)	Met	Met	Maintain
Bioethanol	AD580	Yes	USA	Met	Met	Maintain
Cast iron articles	AD637	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Ceramic tableware / Kitchenware	AD586	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Ceramic tiles	AD560	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Chamois leather	AD496	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Citric acid	AD522	No	China (extended to Malaysia)	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Citrus fruits	AD524	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Coated fine paper	AD552	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Coated fine paper	AS557	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Cold rolled flat steel products	AD620	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Cold rolled flat steel products	AD620	Yes	Russia	Met	Met	Maintain
Continuous filament glass fibres	AD549	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Continuous filament glass fibres	AS603	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Corrosion resistant steel	AD639	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Electric bicycles	AD643	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Electric bicycles	AS646	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Ferro silicon	AD516	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Ferro silicon	AD516	No	Russia	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Grain orientated flat-rolled products of electrical steel (GOES)	AD608	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Grain orientated flat-rolled products of electrical steel (GOES)	AD608	Yes	Japan	Met	Met	Maintain
Grain orientated flat-rolled products of electrical steel (GOES)	AD608	Yes	Korea	Met	Met	Maintain
Grain orientated flat-rolled products of electrical steel (GOES)	AD608	Yes	Russia	Met	Met	Maintain
Grain orientated flat-rolled products of electrical steel (GOES)	AD608	Yes	USA	Met	Met	Maintain
Graphite electrode systems	AD469	No	India	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Graphite electrode systems	AS470	No	India	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Hand pallet trucks and their essential parts	AD474	No	China (extended to Thailand and Vietnam)	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Heavy (quarto) plate	AD631	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
High tenacity polyester yarns	AD547	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel	AD635	Yes	Brazil	Met	Met	Maintain
Hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel	AD630	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel	AS634	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel	AD635	Yes	Iran	Met	Met	Maintain
Hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel	AD635	Yes	Russia	Met	Met	Maintain
Hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel	AD635	Yes	Ukraine	Met	Met	Maintain
Ironing boards	AD506	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Ironing boards [footnote 2]	AD548	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Lever arch mechanisms	AD491	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Lightweight thermal paper (65gr/m2 or less)	AD629	No	Korea	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Manganese dioxide	AD520	No	South Africa	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Melamine	AD554	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Molybdenum wires	AD540	No	China (extended to Malaysia)	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Monosodium glutamate	AD521	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Monosodium glutamate	AD602	No	Indonesia	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Okoume plywood	AD471	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Open mesh glass fibre fabrics	AD558	No	China (extended to India, Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand)	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Organic coated steel	AD584	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Organic coated steel	AS587	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Oxalic acid	AD568	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Oxalic acid	AD568	No	India	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Peroxosulphates	AD511	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Polyethylene terephthalate	AS426	Yes	India	Met	Met	Maintain
PSC wires and strands	AD529	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Rainbow trout	AS606	Yes	Turkey	Met	Met	Maintain
Rebar	AD633	No	Belarus	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Rebar (high fatigue performance steel reinforcing bars)	AD619	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Ring binder mechanisms	AD350	No	China (extended to Laos and Vietnam)	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Seamless pipes and tubes (large 406.4mm)	AD632	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Seamless pipes and tubes of iron or steel	AD533	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Seamless pipes and tubes of iron or steel	AD490	No	Russia	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Seamless pipes and tubes of iron or steel	AD490	No	Ukraine	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Seamless pipes and tubes of stainless steel	AD565	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Silicon metal	AD245	No	China (extended to Korea and Taiwan)	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Sodium cyclamate	AD467	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Sodium cyclamate	AD467	No	Indonesia	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Sodium gluconate	AD544	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Solar glass	AD598	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Solar glass	AS599	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Stainless steel bars and rods	AS556	Yes	India	Met	Met	Maintain
Stainless steel cold rolled flat products	AD607	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Stainless steel cold rolled flat products	AD607	No	Taiwan	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Stainless steel tubes and pipe butt wielding fittings	AD622	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Stainless steel tubes and pipe butt wielding fittings	AD622	No	Taiwan	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Steel (wire) ropes and cables	AD384	Yes	China (extended to Korea and Morocco)	Met	Met	Maintain
Sulphanilic acid	AD444	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Sweetcorn	AD507	No	Thailand	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tartaric acid	AD488	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Threaded tube and pipe cast fittings of malleable cast iron	AD585	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Threaded tube and pipe cast fittings of malleable cast iron	AD585	No	Thailand	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Trichloroisocyanuric acid	AD480	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tube and pipe fittings of iron or steel	AD323	No	China (extended to Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Philippines)	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tube and pipe fittings of iron or steel	AD442	No	Korea	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tube and pipe fittings of iron or steel	AD442	No	Malaysia	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tube and pipe fittings of iron or steel	AD579	No	Russia	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tube and pipe fittings of iron or steel	AD579	No	Turkey	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron	AD616	No	India	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tubes and pipes of ductile cast iron	AS618	No	India	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tungsten carbide	AD238	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tungsten electrodes	AD502	No	China	N/A	N/A	Terminate
Tyres	AD640	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Tyres	AS641	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Welded tubes and pipes of iron or non-alloy steel	AD523	Yes	Belarus	Met	Met	Maintain
Welded tubes and pipes of iron or non-alloy steel	AD523	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain
Welded tubes and pipes of iron or non-alloy steel	AD523	Yes	Russia	Met	Met	Maintain
Wire rod	AD530	Yes	China	Met	Met	Maintain

31. We have not stated the proportion of UK producer support or market share because in most cases, doing so would have revealed commercially confidential information about UK companies’ sales and production.

Next steps

32. The transitioned measures outlined above will be brought into effect at the point the UK begins operating its own independent trade policy, following the publication of a public notice from the Secretary of State for International Trade. This will include additional relevant information specific to each measure such as the level duty, the product scope, and the period for which the anti-dumping or anti-subsidy (countervailing) amount will apply.

33. The DIT will set up future engagement opportunities to enable external stakeholders to discuss the call for evidence final findings and explain the process by which measures will be reviewed. Such events will publicised at a later date. For any immediate queries, please contact the trade remedies team on traderemedies@trade.gov.uk.

34. Future trade remedy reviews for these measures will shortly fall under the remit of the Trade Remedies Authority. Measures which will be maintained will be reviewed by the Trade Remedies Authority and adjusted to ensure they reflect the UK specific market situation and injury to UK manufacturing industries.

35. We will continue to monitor any new trade remedy measures introduced before the UK begins operating its own independent trade policy. Where there is known UK producer interest in any new measure we will reach out to the relevant parties. If a case is initiated that affects your business, please contact us via the email traderemedies@trade.gov.uk.

Appeals

36. The final decisions outlined above can be appealed. Appeals will reconsider the evidence provided, to redetermine whether the right decision has been made in a particular case. All respondents to the call for evidence have the right to appeal.

37. Appeals will only consider the information submitted prior to the deadline for responses – that is 24 August 2018. Please note that if you appeal, you will not be able to introduce new information which was not provided by 24 August 2018 and which therefore was not part of the original assessment.

38. The above findings will remain open to appeal for a period of 30 days from the date of publication. Any appeals received after 27 March 2019 will not be considered.

39. If you wish to appeal a decision, please complete the questions in the appendix below ( see paragraphs 11 and 12) and email it to traderemedies@trade.gov.uk no later than 27 March 2019.

Appendix

Method of analysis

Support from domestic industry

1. The WTO sets out the rules which underpin trade remedies systems for all WTO members. It requires that an application for the opening of a new trade remedy investigation must be supported by domestic producers representing at least 50% of the total production of the domestic industry either supporting or opposing the application. The WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement and Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement also require that producers explicitly supporting the application must account for at least 25% of the domestic industry’s total production. We applied the same thresholds to assess whether to accept applications to maintain measures.

To calculate this, we asked:

• whether businesses produce products covered by measures and whether they support those measures (questions 1, 2 and 3 in the call for evidence)
• how many of the products are produced by the respondent UK business (question 4)
• how many of the products are produced in the UK in total (question 6)

2. This information meant we could calculate:

• supporting firm(s)’ production (a)
• total domestic production (b)
• opposing firm(s)’ production (c)

3. We carried out the following calculation:

• a/(a+c) = standing (>50%)
• a/b = standing (>25%)

Market share requirement

4. In order to aid in deciding whether to maintain a trade remedy measure, we applied a UK-specific threshold, in addition to the WTO thresholds outlined above. This required the domestic industry to have at least a 1% market share for maintaining measures. This avoids imposing disproportionate costs on downstream users and consumers, and investing future resources in reviews which are very unlikely to result in measures being continued. This is in line with our proposals for initiating new investigations as outlined in the paper ‘Preparing for our Future UK Trade Policy’.

5. To calculate the market share threshold, we asked for:

• UK firm(s)’ domestic sales (d)
• total domestic sales, including imports (e)

6. We carried out the following calculation:

• d/e = market share

Confidentiality

7. Information which you provided to us has been used by us for the purpose of determining which EU measures we will maintain as UK measures. It was not used for any other purpose.

8. Information which you provided to us which you have indicated to us is confidential (or that ought reasonably to be considered to be confidential), together with any personal data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1998), has been treated as confidential by the department.

9. This means that we have in place and maintain proper security measures and procedures to protect the confidentiality of this information. It also means that it will only be available to those of the department’s officers and employees to whom it is reasonable to make it available in connection with the purpose of determining which EU measures we will maintain as UK measures.

10. Unless we are required to do so by law, confidential information will not be disclosed by us to any other government department or to any other person or body without your prior written consent.

Appeals

11. When considering the grounds for an appeal, please be reminded of the 3 criteria used by the DIT to assess whether an application for the maintenance of a measure should be successful:

a. We have received an application to maintain measures from UK businesses which produce, in the UK, products subject to trade remedies measures

b. The application is supported by UK businesses which produce a sufficient proportion of those products (this mirrors the tests required by the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement, Article 5.4,, and the WTO Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement, Article 11.4, regarding opening trade remedies investigations)

c. The market share of the UK based producers of those products is above a certain level (that level has now been confirmed as at least 1%)

12. All respondents to the call for evidence have the right to appeal. If it is believed a mistake has been made regarding one or more of the above criteria, please provide answers to questions A to D below and email a copy of the responses to traderemedies@trade.gov.uk no later than 27 March 2019.

A) What is the measure you wish to appeal?

B) What is the name of the company/organisation you represent?

C) If this appeal form is being sent from a different email address and person to the one the original call for evidence submission was sent from, please confirm the email address and name used for the original submission.

D) Please explain why you believe the final decision on the status of the trade remedy measure concerned is incorrect. You must relate this answer to the criteria (a to c) set out at the top of this document.

Original call for evidence

13. Read the original call for evidence.

Provisional findings

14. Read the Provisional findings of the call for evidence into UK interest in existing EU trade remedy measures.

1. A final finding to maintain a measure means that the measures will be reviewed by the TRA to decide the appropriate UK duty. ↩

2. This was not previously included in the provisional findings. Ironing boards have been split into 2 measures; one covers a single exporter and the other covers the rest. ↩