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Safeguard investigation initiated on steel imports

EUR-Lex Official Journal C-series

Published March 27th, 2026

Detected March 27th, 2026

Summary

The European Commission has initiated a safeguard investigation concerning imports of certain grain-oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical steel. This action may lead to new trade measures affecting importers and manufacturers within the EU.

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What changed

The European Commission has officially initiated a safeguard investigation into imports of specific grain-oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical steel. This investigation, published in the Official Journal C series, signifies the commencement of a formal process to assess whether increased imports are causing or threatening to cause serious injury to the Union industry. The investigation will examine the volume and conditions of imports and their impact on domestic producers.

Companies involved in the import or manufacture of these steel products within the EU should prepare for potential trade measures that may be imposed as a result of this investigation. While no specific compliance deadlines are provided in this notice, affected parties are encouraged to review the details of the investigation and consider submitting relevant information to the Commission. The outcome could include the imposition of quotas or tariffs to protect the domestic industry.

What to do next

Review the notice of initiation for specific product codes and definitions.
Assess potential impact on import volumes and costs.
Prepare to provide data or comments to the European Commission if requested.

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Notice of initiation of a safeguard investigation concerning imports of certain grain-oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical steel

C/2026/1965

OJ C, C/2026/1848, 27.3.2026, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/1848/oj (BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, GA, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/1848/oj

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| | Official Journal
of the European Union | EN

C series |

| | C/2026/1848 | 27.3.2026 |
Notice of initiation of a safeguard investigation concerning imports of certain grain-oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical steel

(C/2026/1848)

The European Commission (‘the Commission’) has received a request from Member States to initiate a safeguard investigation. The analysis of the information provided in the request has revealed that imports of certain grain-oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical steel and of steel laminations and cores, for transformers and inductors, into which the grain-oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical steel are further processed, have recently increased, showing that there is sufficient evidence that these trends in imports appear to call for safeguard measures. The Commission has therefore decided to initiate a safeguard investigation, pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) and Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2).

PRODUCT UNDER INVESTIGATION

The product subject to this investigation consists of (1) certain grain-oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical steel (‘GOES’), and (2) steel laminations and cores, whether or not stacked or wound (‘SLC’), for transformers and inductors. GOES currently fall under CN codes 7225 11 00 and 7226 11 00 . SLCs currently fall under CN code 8504 90 13 .

GOES is used as the core material in power and distribution transformers.

INCREASE IN IMPORTS AND INJURY

The analysis of the information provided in the request indicates that total imports of GOES and SLCs increased from 91 362 tonnes and 33 163 tonnes respectively in 2021 to 191 056 tonnes and 60 334 tonnes respectively in the period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. In other words, GOES and SLC imports increased by 109 % and 82 % respectively in that period. The increase in imports appears to be the result of unforeseen developments such as increased production capacity in third countries and the ensuing risk of further increased imports on the Union market. With regard to GOES, the estimated existing spare capacity of about 630 000 tonnes worldwide exceeds Union consumption by 64 % and is likely to cause further injury to the Union industry, even if only part of it is redirected to the Union market. In addition, access to many markets is being closed as a result of trade defence measures adopted by a number of third countries in recent years.

There is also sufficient evidence showing that the volumes of these imports have caused or are threatening to cause significant overall impairment of the position of the Union industry, based on the economic indicators specified in Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478 and Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755. In particular, this evidence shows that imports of the product concerned have had, among other consequences, a negative impact on the market share of the Union producers. This has put significant pressure on the Union industry's sales volumes, resulting in a negative or a low level of profit. The Union industry remains vulnerable to a further increase in imports, which is, in particular given the overall overcapacity in the global market, likely to be imminent. The investigation will examine the situation of the Union industry, also based on the most recent developments, such as any trade diversion resulting from the closure of third country markets due to trade defence measures.

PROCEDURE

Having determined, after informing the Member States, that there is sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of an investigation, the Commission hereby initiates an investigation pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478 and Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755.

The investigation will determine whether, as a result of unforeseen developments, the product concerned is being imported into the Union in such increased quantities and/or under such terms or conditions as to cause, or threaten to cause, serious injury to the Union producers.

3.1. Questionnaire replies and written submissions by interested parties

In order to obtain the information necessary for the investigation, the Commission will collect the questionnaire replies from producers, associations of producers, importers, and users of the product concerned in the Union. The questionnaires will be published on the day of publication of this Notice on the website of the Directorate-General for Trade. The completed questionnaires must reach the Commission within 21 days from the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

All interested parties including exporting producers, importers, users of the product concerned, their associations, and third country representations are invited to make known their views in writing, to submit information and to provide supporting evidence. Written submissions in free format must reach the Commission within 21 days from the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Interested parties may make themselves known by contacting the Commission, preferably by email, immediately but normally no later than 15 days after the publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Any submission of views and information after the above deadlines may be disregarded.

3.2. Instructions for making written submissions, for sending completed questionnaires and correspondence

Information submitted to the Commission shall be free from copyrights. Interested parties, before submitting to the Commission information and/or data which is subject to third party copyrights, must request specific permission to the copyright holder explicitly allowing a) the Commission to use the information and data for the purpose of this trade defence proceeding and b) to provide the information and/or data to interested parties to this investigation in a form that allows them to exercise their rights of defence.

All written submissions, including the information requested in this Notice, completed questionnaires and correspondence provided by interested parties for which confidential treatment is requested shall be labelled ‘Sensitive’ (3). Parties submitting information in the course of this investigation are invited to reason their request for confidential treatment.

Parties providing ‘Sensitive’ information are required to furnish non-confidential summaries of it pursuant to Article 8 Regulation (EU) 2015/478 and Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755, which will be labelled ‘For inspection by interested parties’. Those summaries should be sufficiently detailed to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence and must reach the Commission at the same time as the ‘Sensitive’ version.

If a party providing confidential information fails to show good cause for a confidential treatment request or does not furnish a non-confidential summary of it in the requested format and quality, the Commission may disregard such information unless it can be satisfactorily demonstrated from appropriate sources that the information is correct.

Interested parties are invited to make all submissions and requests via TRON.tdi (https://tron.trade.ec.europa.eu/tron/TDI) including scanned powers of attorney. By using TRON.tdi or e-mail, interested parties express their agreement with the rules applicable to electronic submissions contained in the document ‘CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IN TRADE DEFENCE CASES’ published on the website of the Directorate-General for Trade: https://europa.eu/!7tHpY3. The interested parties must indicate their name, address, telephone and a valid e-mail address and they should ensure that the provided e-mail address is a functioning official business email which is checked on a daily basis. Once contact details are provided, the Commission will communicate with interested parties by TRON.tdi or email only, unless they explicitly request to receive all documents from the Commission by another means of communication or unless the nature of the document to be sent requires the use of a registered mail. For further rules and information concerning correspondence with the Commission including principles that apply to submissions via TRON.tdi, interested parties should consult the communication instructions with interested parties referred to above.

Commission address for correspondence:

Email address: TRADE-SAFEGUARD-GOES@ec.europa.eu

3.3. Hearings

Pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478 and Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755, all interested parties may also apply to be heard by the Commission within 21 days of the date of publication of this Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

INSPECTION OF INFORMATION

Interested parties who have made known their views or submitted information or requested to be heard in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478 and Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755, and representatives of the exporting countries, may, upon written request, inspect all information made available to the Commission in connection with the investigation other than internal documents prepared by the authorities of the Union or its Member States, provided that that information is relevant to the presentation of their case and not confidential within the meaning of Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478 or Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755, and that it is used by the Commission in the investigation. Interested parties which have come forward may communicate their views on the information in question to the Commission and those views may be taken into consideration where they are supported by sufficient evidence.

NON-COOPERATION

In cases where any interested party refuses access to or does not provide the necessary information within the time limits, or significantly impedes the investigation, findings may be made on the basis of facts available, in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478 and Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755. Where it is found that any interested party has supplied false or misleading information, the information may be disregarded and use may be made of facts available.

HEARING OFFICER

The Hearing Officer acts as an interface between the interested parties and the Commission investigation services. The Hearing Officer reviews requests for access to the file, disputes regarding the confidentiality of documents, requests for extension of time limits and any other request concerning the rights of defence of interested parties and third parties as may arise during the proceeding.

Interested parties may request an intervention of the Hearing Officer. In principle, these interventions shall be limited to the issues that have arisen during the current proceeding.

A request for an intervention of the Hearing Officer should be made in writing and should specify the reasons for the request. In principle, the timeframe set out in Section 3.1 of this Notice for submissions to the Commission apply mutatis mutandis to requests for intervention to the Hearing Officer. Where such requests are submitted outside the relevant timeframes, the Hearing Officer may also examine the reasons for such late requests, having due regard to the interests of good administration and the timely completion of the investigation.

For further information and contact details interested parties may consult the Hearing Officer's web pages on DG Trade's website: https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/contacts/hearing-officer_en

SCHEDULE OF THE INVESTIGATION

If the Commission determines that measures are necessary, the Commission shall take the necessary decisions in accordance with Chapter V of Regulations (EU) 2015/478 and (EU) 2015/755 respectively, no later than nine months from the date of initiation, unless exceptional circumstances exist, in which case that time limit may be extended by a maximum period of two months. If the time limit is extended, the Commission will publish a Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union setting forth the duration of the extension and a summary of the reasons.

PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA

Any personal data collected in this investigation will be treated in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4).

A data protection notice that informs all individuals of the processing of personal data in the framework of Commission’s trade defence activities is available on DG Trade’s website: https://europa.eu/!vr4g9W

(1) Regulation (EU) 2015/478 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2015 on common rules for imports (OJ L 83, 27.3.2015, p. 16).

(2) Regulation (EU) 2015/755 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 on common rules for imports from certain third countries (OJ L 123, 19.5.2015, p. 33).

(3) A ‘Sensitive’ document is a document which is considered confidential pursuant to Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2015/478, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/755 and Article 3.2 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards. It is also a document protected pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

(4) Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/1848/oj

ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)

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