Call for evidence outcome

Call for evidence to identify UK interest in existing EU trade remedy measures

Updated 2 May 2019

Introduction

Trade remedies are currently a European Union (EU) competence. Investigations, decisions and monitoring of trade remedy measures are performed by the European Commission on behalf of all EU member states. In preparation for leaving the EU, and without prejudice to the terms of any implementation period with the EU, the Department for International Trade is preparing an independent UK trade remedy framework to be implemented by a new mechanism to investigate cases and propose measures. This new mechanism must continue to be compatible with the clear standards and requirements set out by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and will support our approach to trade liberalisation. A new arm’s length body will be created to investigate trade remedy cases and make recommendations on the basis of clear economic criteria. You can find out more about our plans for the new UK trade remedy framework in the policy paper, ‘Preparing for our Future UK Trade Policy’.

The EU currently has over 100 measures in place on imported products originating from 25 different non-EU countries, some of which may be important to UK industry. In order to provide certainty to business and ensure continuity, the government is committed to, in effect, maintain existing trade remedy measures which matter to UK businesses, and which meet the necessary criteria, including WTO requirements around the level of support from domestic producers. We will review them to ensure that they are tailored to the needs of the UK economy where appropriate.

This call for evidence is the first step in this process. We are asking businesses which measures matter to them now in order to gather the majority of data ahead of the UK operating its independent trade remedy framework. Once we have this information, we will be able to assess which measures meet the criteria.

The Prime Minister set out in her Florence speech the UK’s intention to seek an implementation period with the EU to provide continuity for businesses and citizens. This call for evidence is in connection with measures to be in place from the point at which the UK commences operation of its independent trade remedies framework and is without prejudice to the terms of any implementation period with the EU.

It is important that UK businesses let us know which measures matter to them. We will terminate any measures which are not subject to an application to be maintained (see Annex A) (Word, 32KB) in response to this call for evidence or, where they are subject to such an application, they do not meet the criteria. We recognise that EU measures may be put in place after the call for evidence closes and before the UK begins to operate its independent trade remedy framework; for these new measures, we will approach those interested parties to understand whether there is an interest for such measures to be maintained.

What information are we seeking?

This call for evidence is to identify which of the EU’s existing trade remedy measures matter to UK businesses. Our decision as to whether an existing measure will be maintained will be based on 3 criteria:

• we have received an application from UK businesses (see Annex A) (Word, 32KB) which produce products subject to trade remedy measures
• the application is supported by a sufficient proportion of the UK businesses which produce those products
• the market share of the UK businesses which produce those products is above a certain level

Measures which do not meet these criteria will not be maintained when the UK begins to operate its independent trade remedy framework. In doing so, the government will take account of any time-limited implementation period agreed between the UK and the EU. More information about those criteria is in the ‘Background to questions’ section of this document.

The call for evidence asks whether UK businesses which produce products currently subject to anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures, or which are currently involved in an on-going anti-dumping or anti-subsidy investigations (scheduled to conclude prior to the UK operating its independent trade remedy framework), support, oppose or are neutral about maintaining the measures which directly affect them, when the UK begins to operate its independent trade policy. The current EU trade remedy measures and investigations, as of the 22 November 2017, are at Annex B (PDF, 319KB) of this call for evidence.

If a UK business which produces products which are subject to measures (or which are currently under investigation), supports measures being maintained, we ask them to confirm this by completing an application (see Annex A) (Word, 32KB), and providing the information requested in questions 1 to 5 below, all of which should be emailed to traderemedies@trade.gov.uk. The information requested in questions 1 to 5 will help us confirm whether applications are supported by a sufficient proportion of UK businesses producing the products which are subject to measures (or are currently under investigation), and to assess whether a UK-specific market share threshold is met, which will aid in decisions regarding whether measures should in effect be maintained. In addition, we ask affected businesses for information about the amount of products which they produce which are affected by the measures, and the amount of products that they sell in the UK. Please see the ‘Questions – UK Producers’ section.

We also ask UK producers, and anyone else with an interest in these measures, about the volume of the products covered at Annex B (PDF, 319KB) that are produced in the UK, as well as the size of the UK market for these products (including imports). We need this information to decide whether applications have enough producer support and whether those supporting the measure have a sufficiently large share of the UK market. Please see the ‘Questions – Other parties’ section.

How will this information be used?

We will use the information provided in response to the call for evidence to decide whether measures matter to the UK. The applications to maintain measures (see Annex A) (Word, 32KB) alongside mandatory information, will inform which measures will be maintained. We will use a UK-specific market share threshold to aid in making those decisions.

The answers from UK businesses to questions 1 to 5 will be vital as evidence to support an application to maintain measures from UK domestic industry. Provision of this evidence is a WTO requirement before any new measure can be put in place (please see ‘Background to Questions’ for more information). We do not hold sufficiently detailed information to make these assessments without the information we are seeking from industry. The measures which are the subject of applications which meet the criteria will then be maintained at the same level as the EU measures until they are reviewed under the UK system.

We are asking UK businesses which measures matter to them now in order to gather the majority of data ahead of the UK operating its independent trade remedy framework. We recognise that EU measures may be put in place after the call for evidence closes and before the UK begins to operate its independent trade remedy framework; for these new measures, we will approach those interested parties to understand whether there is an interest for such measures to be maintained.

The ‘Next Steps’ and ‘Guidance’ sections of this document explain further details, including the timing of this process and the criteria which the Government will use to assess whether a measure should be maintained.

This process is optional, however if we do not receive a formal application to maintain a measure (ie the completed application form at Annex A (Word, 32KB) and answers to questions 1 to 5, that measure will not be assessed and therefore will cease to apply once the UK begins to operate its independent trade remedy framework.

At this stage, we are not inviting views from UK producers about the potential for new investigations nor are we inviting views on products which are not already subject to measures, unless such products are the subject of live investigations likely to conclude before the UK begins to operate its independent trade remedy framework. As with queries on current investigations and products, all new applications from UK businesses should continue to be made to the European Commission until further notice.

Questions

Below is a short list of questions which we invite UK producers and others with an interest to answer.

UK Producers

The questions below are aimed at UK-based producers of products covered by any existing EU anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures, or products covered by existing investigations. A list of existing measures and current investigations can be found at Annex B (PDF, 319KB).

We ask all UK producer respondents to the call for evidence to answer the mandatory questions 1 to 5 .

If you wish to express support to maintain a measure(s), you must complete the application form at Annex A (Word, 32KB) in addition to answering the mandatory questions, which should be emailed to traderemedies@trade.gov.uk. If this form is not completed, your application to maintain a measure(s) will not be considered.

Please answer as many of the questions below as you can. We are asking for this information to ensure we have a full picture of UK production and the UK market for the products covered by measures.

Mandatory Questions

1. Do you produce any of the products, or like products, covered by any of the existing EU measures or current investigations? Please specify these product(s) and provide a description of the product(s) that you produce, and state which measures the products relate to. (Further guidance on what we mean by ‘produce’ and ‘like products’ can be found below in the ‘Guidance’ section).

2. For each of the measures you identified at question 1, please state whether you support, oppose or feel neutral about them being maintained when the UK begins to operate an independent trade remedy framework.

3. Please provide information about your business’ structure, including parent businesses, subsidiaries and any relationships with overseas exporters or importers of the relevant product(s).

4. Of the product(s) which you identified at question 1, how many of each of the relevant product(s) did you produce in the UK, by value and volume (in standard industry units), for each of the last 3 financial years?

• Please specify the data sources that these figures are based on. If you do not have 3 years of data, please provide what you can.

5. How many of each of the relevant product(s) did you sell in the UK in the last 3 financial years, by value and volume (in standard industry units)? Please separate information about sales of relevant products which you produced in the UK from information about any imported relevant products you sold.

• Please specify the data sources that these figures are based on. If you do not have 3 years of data, please provide what you can.

Optional Questions

6. What is your estimate of the total UK production of the relevant product(s), by value and volume (in standard industry units), over each of the last three financial years, across the whole of the UK? Please specify the data sources that your estimate is based on.

7. Are you aware of any other producers of the relevant product(s) based in the UK? If so, please name them.

8. What is your estimate of the total UK sales of the relevant products, including imports and products produced in the UK, by value and volume (in standard industry units), over each of the last three financial years? Please specify the data sources that your estimate is based on.

9. Are you aware of any other UK sellers of the relevant products? If so, please name them.

Please provide any other evidence that you consider to be of interest, such as previous involvement in previous trade remedy investigations.

Other parties

The questions below are aimed at other parties that may have an interest in current measures. This includes, for example:

• users of products covered by existing measures (downstream producers as well as final consumers)
• upstream industries
• importers and vendors of the product(s)
• overseas suppliers and/ or manufacturers of imported product(s)

Please answer as many of the questions below as you can. We are asking for information from other parties to ensure we have a full picture of UK production and the UK market for the products covered by measures. A list of these existing measures can be found at Annex B (PDF, 319KB).

10. Please explain which of the measures listed at Annex B (PDF, 319KB) are of interest to you.

11. Please explain which of the above category of ‘other party’ you fit into for each measure you expressed interest in at question 10.

With reference to each measure you identified at question 10:

12. What is your estimate of the total production of the product(s) covered by each measure, by value and volume (in standard industry units), over the last 3 financial years, across the whole of the UK? Please specify the data sources that your estimate is based on.

13. Are you aware of any UK-based producers of the relevant product(s)? If so, please name them.

14. How much of each relevant product(s) did you buy in the UK over the last 3 financial years, by value and volume (in standard industry units)?

15. What is your estimate of the total sales of the relevant product(s), by value and volume (in standard industry units), over the last 3 financial years, across the whole of the UK? Please specify the data sources that your estimate is based on.

16. Are you aware of any sellers of the relevant product(s)? If so, please name them.

17. Please provide any other evidence that you consider to be relevant, such as previous involvement in previous trade remedy investigations.

Guidance

Confidentiality

Information which you provide to us in response to this call for evidence will be used by us for the purpose of determining which EU measures we propose to maintain as UK measures. It will not be used by us for any other purpose.

Information which you provide to us in response to this call for evidence 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), will be treated as confidential by the department. This means that we will 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 propose to maintain as UK measures. 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.

‘Like’ products

You may not produce the product specifically described in the European Commission’s case files, but you may produce one that is very similar. To work out whether your product is similar enough to a product covered by existing EU measures, the EU’s definition of ‘like products’, at Article 1, clause 4 of EU Regulation 2016/1036, defines them as “a product which is identical, that is to say, alike in all respects, to the product under consideration, or, in the absence of such a product, another product which, although not alike in all respects, has characteristics closely resembling those of the product under consideration.” Please email traderemedies@trade.gov.uk if you require further guidance.

Definition of ‘produce’

Your product(s) may use parts from other countries and you may be unsure whether this means you ‘produce’ them. To understand whether you ‘produce’ a product, please use the definition in the EU’s Customs Code: Goods the production of which involves more than one country or territory shall be deemed to originate in the country or territory where they underwent their last, substantial, economically-justified processing or working, in an undertaking equipped for that purpose, resulting in the manufacture of a new product or representing an important stage of manufacture.

If you require further guidance, please email traderemedies@trade.gov.uk.

Background to questions

The questions in this call for evidence are designed to enable an assessment of the relevance of the measures which are the subject of applications. We are in the process of conducting further work on the detail of the proposed criteria to be applied in determining whether a measure should be maintained, and have been engaging with stakeholders to get their views on this, and are committed to continuing that process. However, we have given a broad outline of the criteria and have explained the intent below to help you understand what information we are looking for from you.

Our current intent is to use 3 criteria to decide whether or not to maintain measures which have been the subject of an application from UK producers when the UK begins to operate its independent trade remedy framework. These 3 criteria are:

• we have received an application from UK businesses which produce products subject to trade remedy measures
• the application is supported by a sufficient proportion of the UK businesses which produce those products
• the market share of the UK businesses which produce those products is above a certain level

Support from domestic industry

The WTO, which sets out the rules which underpin trade remedy systems for all countries and systems, requires that a application must be supported by producers representing at least 50% of the total output of all the domestic companies either supporting or opposing the application. The WTO also asks that the output of producers explicitly supporting the application must be at least 25% of the domestic industry’s total output. We propose to apply the same thresholds when we assess whether to accept applications to maintain measures. To calculate this, we have asked:

• whether businesses produce products covered by measures and whether they support those measures (questions 1, 2 and 3)
• 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)

This information means we can calculate:

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

We would then carry out the following calculation:

a/b = standing (>25%)

a/(a+c) = standing (>50%)

UK market share

In order to aid in deciding whether to in effect maintain a trade remedy measure, we propose to apply a UK-specific threshold, in addition to the WTO thresholds outlined above, which specifies the minimum market share required for the domestic industry to maintain measures, in order to avoid investing resources in reviews which are very unlikely to result in measures. This is in line with our proposals for initiating new investigations as outlined in the paper ‘Preparing for our Future UK Trade Policy’.

To calculate the market share threshold, we have asked for:

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

We would then carry out the following calculation:

d/e = market share

How to respond

Responses to these questions and submissions of evidence should be emailed to traderemedies@trade.gov.uk by midday on Friday 30 March 2018.

When responding, please identify your business and/or a group of businesses. If you are representing a group, please list the businesses included.

For each UK producer, please provide individual responses to questions 1 to 5. If you want to apply to maintain a measure, please complete Annex A (Word, 32KB) in addition to the mandatory questions. Please also provide the contact details for each business. This will help us avoid including the same business’ information twice.

If you have any questions about providing evidence for any of these questions, please email traderemedies@trade.gov.uk.

If you are unable to respond by email, please send your response to the following address:

Trade remedies call for evidence
Department of International Trade
3 Whitehall Place
London SW1A 2AW

Next steps

All responses to this call for evidence will be reviewed by the Department for International Trade. If we need further information or clarification, we will contact you.

The deadline for submitting a response is midday on Friday 30 March 2018. Responses received after this date will not be considered.

After this period, we will make available our initial findings (excluding all confidential information). We will invite interested parties to review our initial findings and provide any further evidence that may be relevant.

Once we have reviewed any further evidence, we will assess all applications and evidence that we have received, against the 3 criteria of whether an application has been received, UK producer support, and share of the UK market. We will announce which measures have met the criteria before the UK begins to operate its independent trade remedy framework, at which point we will set out next steps.

Once the UK is operating its independent trade remedy framework, all new investigations and reviews of existing measures will be conducted by the new trade remedy investigating authority. We will provide more information regarding the framework and the processes for investigations and reviews following the adoption of legislation. The government is committed to ensuring that UK businesses have access to a transparent, impartial, balanced and effective trade remedy framework.

Appeals

Once a decision has been made about which measures will be maintained, there will be opportunity to appeal the decision. Appeals will only consider the information submitted prior to the deadline for responses. Please note that if you appeal, you will not be able to introduce new information which was not part of the original assessment.

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The UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) has overall responsibility for promoting UK trade across the world and attracting foreign investment to our economy. We are a specialised government body with responsibility for negotiating international trade policy, supporting business, as well as delivering an outward-looking trade diplomacy strategy

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Trade remedies call for evidence
Department of International Trade
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