Addressing Unfair Steel and Aluminum Imports
Preventing Circumvention Dumping via Third Countries
Intensive Crackdown on Illegal Distribution Imports Until Next Month
Choi Sang-mok, the acting President and Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Economy and Finance, stated that “we will mandate the submission of Material Test Certificates (MTCs) upon import declaration to verify the origin information of imported steel.” This is to prevent steel products that bypass directly stating the country of origin and enter domestic distribution unfairly via third countries.
On the 19th, Acting President Choi held a meeting of various ministers at the Government Complex in Seoul to discuss trade risks and countermeasures against unfair imports concerning steel and aluminum.
The government plans to closely monitor acts of circumvention dumping, where goods subject to anti-dumping duties are re-exported via third countries to evade such duties. MTCs, issued by companies during steel production, contain detailed information such as product standards, origin, and the producing country, and the government aims to institutionalize their submission during import declarations.
The current regulations on circumvention dumping, which only address acts that avoid anti-dumping duties through minor alterations in the supplier country, will be revised to include “circumvention dumping via third countries.”
Furthermore, the government plans an intensive crackdown on illegally distributed imports by the end of next month. Activities such as disguising imported goods as domestic products for distribution or export fall under this crackdown. High-risk imports frequently found to have origin violations will be added to the distribution history management target, with ongoing checks of the distribution stage increased from the current two times to four times.
Additionally, the government will designate ‘Customs Response 119’, established in KOTRA, as a unified window to provide comprehensive support for steel, aluminum, and derivative product companies in overcoming trade barriers.