Vietnam has taken Indonesia to the World Trade Organization for imposing ‘safeguard’ action against import steel products, said the Vietnam Steel Association.
Previously, the Indonesian Ministry of Finance issued a circular on their own initiative imposing ‘safeguard’ tariffs on Vietnamese flat rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel without corresponding with the Vietnamese Government.
A safeguard can be taken by a WTO member to temporarily restrict an import increase of a product which cause or threaten to cause injuries to domestic production.
The Indonesian Trade Safeguard Committee (KPPI) has not abided by procedures related to the right of being informed to Vietnam while taking the safeguard action.
It has also showed signs of violating conditions to apply the safeguard measure under the Safeguards Agreement. For instance, they have neither proved serious threats from the non-alloy steel to their domestic production nor fully analyzed other damaging factors besides import increase.
