On January 20, 2021, the WTO Committee on Safeguards issued the notification of safeguards submitted by Bahrain on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The scope of the products involved in the amendment of the GCC safeguard measures for imported steel products is shown in Table 1 (table of increase of the products involved) and table 2 (table of cancellation of the products involved):

On October 23, 2019, the Gulf Cooperation Council launched safeguard measures for imported steel products for investigation. On July 23, 2020, the WTO Committee on Safeguards issued a notification on safeguards submitted by the United Arab Emirates on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The GCC has initially ruled that the surge in steel imports has caused substantial damage or threat of damage to the domestic industries of GCC member states. The case involved nine types of steel products, namely, hot rolled steel coils (tax number 720827, 720837, 720838, 720839, 720851, 720853, 720854, 721113, 721114, 721119); cold rolled steel coils (720916, 720917, 720918, 720926, 720927, 720928, 720990, 722550); metal coated steel plates (721030, 721049, 721069, 721220, 721250, 721260, 722591, 722592, 722599) ; organic coated steel plate (721240); steel bar and wire rod (721310, 721320, 721391, 721399, 721410, 721430, 721510, 721550, 721590, 722710, 722720, 722810, 722820, 722840, 722850, 722860); round, square and rectangular steel bar (721491, 721499, 722211, 722219); steel profile (721610, 721631, 721632, 730810); steel angle profiles and special profiles (721621, 721650, 730120): welded seamless pipes (730424, 730520, 730531, 730539, 730611, 730619, 730640, 730661, 730690) for transporting water, natural gas and oil.

Table 1: Increase in products involved


Table 2: Cancellation Form of Products Involved