EU Duties on US Scrap Imports Suspended

The Bureau of International Recycling has informed its member companies that European Union customs duties on imports of certain products, including iron, steel, aluminum, and textile scrap, from the United States were suspended the first of this year. The decision follows a Council Regulation adopted Jan. 31, 2005.

Trade sanctions were imposed on the USA in reply to a U.S. legislation allowing foreign sales corporations to benefit from export subsidies amounting to more than 4 billion dollars per year since 2000.

The duties will be suspended until the first of next year, or 60 days after confirmation by the World Trade Organisation that the FSC successor legislation, the American Jobs Creation act, is also not compatible with WTO rules.

The FSCs were ruled against by the World Trade Organisation in 2000 as a direct subsidy to exports. In May 2003, the EU was authorized by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body to impose countermeasures of up to a level of 4 billion dollars in the form of additional duties of imports of certain products from the United States.