According to the Vietnamese Delegation in Geneva, on November 25, 2025, the European Commission (EC) sent a notification to the WTO Secretariat on the application of safeguard measures on some manganese and silicon-based alloying elements with HS codes 72 02 11 20, 72 02 11 80, 72 02 19 00, 72 02 21 00, 72 02 29 10, 72 02 29 90, 72 02 99 30, 72 02 30. The EC initiated an investigation into the case on December 19, 2024.
- Regarding the safeguard measures to be applied in the form of tariff quotas
Pursuant to EC Regulation No. 2025/2351, where the relevant tariff quota has been fully used, or where imports of products not covered by the relevant tariff quota have been made, the out-of-quota variable duty applied to the products shall be equal to the difference between the threshold price (based on the price that does not cause injury to the domestic EU industry) and the duty-free import price (CIF price) at the EU border, if the latter is lower.
According to the EU’s international obligations, this measure shall not apply to any product originating from a developing country that is a WTO Member or Algeria, provided that the share of imports of that product in the Union does not exceed 3%, and that developing country WTO Members with a share of less than 3% do not account for more than 9% of the total imports of the product concerned into the Union. Unless explicitly listed among the categories of products originating from developing countries to which the definitive measures apply, it has been determined that imports of the product concerned originating from developing countries that are WTO Members and Algeria meet the necessary conditions for the above exemption.
- Products subject to EU’s safeguard measure
The product concerned is certain ferroalloy elements under CN codes 7202 11; 7202 19; 7202 21; 7202 29; 7202 30; 7202 99 30. These CN codes are provided for information purposes only.
HS Code: 72 02 11 20, 72 02 11 80, 72 02 19 00, 72 02 21 00, 72 02 29 10, 72 02 29 90, 72 02 99 30, 72 02 30.
- Conclusion for Vietnam
In this case, Vietnam is on the list of developing countries with insignificant import volume and will be excluded from applying safeguard measures according to the regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
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