Poland considers own response after EU takes action over US steel tariffs

The European Union (EU) yesterday imposed customs duties of 15% to 26% on imports of steel products. The move, which is expected to hit Polish e xporters, is in response to the imposition of similar tariffs by the US. However, the EU also plans to introduce a series of contingencies allowing exemption from the new duties, if steel exports to the EU are kept within a defined limit. "Introducing the contingencies means in effect applying the rule of first come, first served," commented Wieslaw Karsz, director of the Economy Ministry's Protection Procedure Department. The new EU tariffs are to be effective for six months, and "not a single day longer than the American restrictions," said Romano Prodi, head of the European Commission (EC). In the first nine months of 2001 Polish steel mills' exports to the EU were worth $430 million, 55% of all the country's steel exports. Poland is considering applying similar tariffs to protect its own market. (Puls Biznesu, p. 10) M.T.