On August 28, the World Trade Organization (WTO) established a panel for dispute settlement regarding the EU’s safeguard measures on imported steel products from Turkey, following Turkey's request. However, the panel has not been composed yet.
On July 17, Turkey had requested the establishment of a panel. It hopes that the panel will issue its final report to the parties no later than a period of six months from the date when composition and terms of reference of the panel are agreed upon.
In March this year, Turkey requested trade dispute consultations with the European Union concerning the provisional and definitive safeguard measures imposed by the European Union on imports of certain steel products and the investigation that led to the imposition of these measures, as SteelOrbis previously reported. Turkey and the European Union held consultations on April 29. These consultations failed to settle the dispute.
The EU imposed provisional measures in July 2018 and a definitive safeguard on 26 categories of steel products in January 2019 through June 2021. After a second review, the EU Commission reduced import quotas for Turkish HRC significantly as of July 1 this year.