European Commission amends HDG quota

The European Commission officially revoked the end-user procedure requirement for 4b automotive-gauge hot-dip galvanised (HDG) yesterday.

Despite close cooperation between parties involved in the importation of 4b galv — including the sellers, buyers and customs authorities — some imports from South Korea into the EU did not happen because it was "not possible to speed up the administrative process", the commission said yesterday.

A significant quantity of 4b galv is still waiting to clear customs as a result, negatively affecting the automotive supply chain, which relies heavily on just-in-time delivery. The commission also said that South Korea's quotas will be amended for the 4a and 4b categories, as auto-galv had to be imported under the 4a quota.

The commission said that an end-user procedure or alternative system may still be needed at a later date to ensure availability of 4b galvanised for the automotive sector. This will be investigated in a further review at a later date.

The 4a other countries quota was 479,833t for the January-March quota period, and this has already been reduced to 368,571t. The review of the safeguard, implemented on 1 October 2019, saw some of the material previously included into 4b moved into the 4a quota; at the time sources suggested that this may allow the importation of Chinese HDG into the 4a quota without existing anti-dumping duties being payable.

By Colin Richardson