BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) announced that it had established a prior-surveillance system for import of steel products into the bloc in order to further protect its own steel industry.
Based on the regulation adopted on Friday, imports of steel products into the EU will now need an import license, said the EU’s executive arm the European Commission in a statement.
The commission said the new mechanism was part of “a series of measures aiming to support the EU steel sector.”
The EU has long claimed that importing steel products from third countries, such as China, have jeopardized its own labor market.
But Beijing warned that trade protectionism measures would do no help to tackle global steel overcapacity.
The steel industry in Europe represents 1.3 percent of EU GDP and provided around 328,000 jobs in 2015, the commission said.
