On 27 March, the European Commission’s trade department decided to open a safeguard proceeding concerning GOES, as well as steel laminations and cores (SLC) for transformers and inductors. Germany, France and Poland had requested the Commission to conduct the investigation without having consulted transformer manufacturers. T&D Europe, ZVEI, Orgalim and member companies had made last minute attempts to avoid such an investigation.
Now that the investigation has started, T&D Europe’s Working Group Transformers is working with a specialised law firm on the preparation of a submission to the Commission by 20 April. In parallel, individual members are also engaging with the process as interested stakeholders. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the Commission could adopt measures impacting the imports of GOES into the EU.
Diederik Peereboom, T&D Europe Secretary General: “As the most important downstream users, Europe’s transformer manufacturers are both surprised and concerned about this request and its potential negative consequences. The issue is not simply one of upstream steel protection. It concerns the availability and cost of the key raw material at the heart of Europe’s electrification bottleneck”.