Notice

Trade remedies notice 2025/26: safeguard measure: tariff-rate quota on steel goods

Updated 31 December 2025

This notice was published on 31 December 2025, coming into effect the next day.

This public notice is published by the Secretary of State under subsection 13(4) and sub-paragraph 21(7) of Schedule 5 to the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 and makes provision giving effect to the recommendation of the Trade Remedies Authority made in accordance with regulation 37(1) of The Trade Remedies (Increase in Imports Causing Serious Injury to UK Producers) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (‘the Regulations’) and entitled: Tariff Rate Quota Review on Category 13 Steel Products (TQ0072).

The application of the safeguard measure will continue to be suspended with respect to goods originating in Ukraine, as originally implemented by trade remedies notice 2024/06.

Goods description

The goods subject to the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) review are Category 13 steel products (Rebar). The goods are defined by the following commodity codes:

• 72142000
• 72149910

Summary of the safeguard measure tariff-rate quota review

The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) initiated the TRQ review on 10 November 2025 after an application had been lodged by a UK steel producer, in accordance with regulation 35B of the Regulations. The TRA conducted the TRQ review as there is information which indicated that import levels of the goods subject to review originating in Vietnam (a World Trade Organization (WTO) developing country member) have changed since the application of the Category 13 TRQ such that Vietnam can no longer be excluded from the application of the safeguard measure under regulation 43 of the Regulations (developing country exception).

The period of investigation (POI) for the review to assess the change in circumstances was 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025. The representative period for assessing traditional trade flows was the calendar years 2017 to 2019.

The TRA’s recommendation

In accordance with regulation 37(1) of the Regulations, and as a result of the determinations made pursuant to regulation 35B of the Regulations, the TRA made the following recommendation to the Secretary of State of Business and Trade.

The TRA recommended that the TRQ should be varied so that imports of the goods subject to review originating in Vietnam are no longer excepted from the application of the safeguard measure, and Vietnamese imports of these goods should now have access to the residual quota. The resulting TRQ allocations for category 13 are shown in the Quota amount and allocation for year 8 section. The allocations below supersede the category 13 year 8 quota allocations in trade remedies notice 2025/12.

The TRA has made this recommendation as a result of the change of circumstances and its consideration of the facts which are set out in its final determination and further evidenced in the public file for case TQ0072.

Secretary of State’s decision on the TRQ review

This public notice gives effect to the Secretary of State’s decision to accept the TRA’s recommendation on the TRQ review of category 13 of the UK’s steel safeguard measure. The Secretary of State accepted the recommendation while having regard to the public interest. This notice is made under section 13(4) of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018.

The varied measure shall take effect the day after the date of publication of any public notice as per section 13 of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018, which gives effect to this recommendation and to the TRQ periods set out below.

Duty amount

The additional amount of duty (‘safeguard duty’) applicable to steel goods imported outside of the quota is 25% ad valorem.

The safeguard duty is applicable to the net free-at-the-frontier price of the good (before any other amount of import duty).

The application of the safeguard measure will continue to be suspended with respect to goods originating in Ukraine, as originally implemented by trade remedies notice 2024/06.

Duration

The updated tariff-rate quota applies from 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2026.

Right to access quota

The right to access the quota is granted by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to importers in the United Kingdom on a first-come, first-served basis.

The category 13 quota is operated as outlined in trade remedies notice 2025/12.

Importers are asked to cite the relevant order number set out in the annex or as otherwise specified on the online tariff tool when applying to HMRC to access a particular quota.

Quota amount and allocation for year 8

The year 8 quarters are:

• quarter 3: 1 January 2026 to 31 March 2026
• quarter 4: 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026

The allocations made for category 13 in this notice supersede the allocations for category 13 in year 8 in trade remedies notice 2025/12.

Table 1: year 8 quota amount and allocation by country and territory from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026

Product category	Country or territory	Quarter 3 (in tonnes)	Quarter 4 (in tonnes)
13	EU	72,902	73,712
13	Turkey	34,538	34,921
13	Residual	23,514	23,776
13	Residual 20% cap for any individual exporting country	4,703	4,755

Goods excluded

Exclusion for steel goods originating in signatory countries or territories.

All steel goods originating in a signatory country or territory specified are excluded from the:

• quota amount allocated for all other countries or territories
• application of the safeguard duty

Signatory countries or territories

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Barbados
• Belize
• Bahamas
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Jamaica
• Kenya
• St Kitts and Nevis
• St Lucia
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Suriname
• Trinidad and Tobago

Limited exclusion for steel goods originating in developing countries or territories

Except for steel goods in a goods category originating in a developing country or territory annotated with that goods category, any steel goods originating in a developing country or territory specified below are excluded from the:

• quota amount allocated for all other countries or territories
• application of the safeguard duty

Developing countries or territories

• Afghanistan
• Albania
• Angola
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Argentina
• Armenia
• Bahrain
• Bangladesh
• Barbados
• Belize
• Benin
• Bolivia
• Botswana
• Brazil
• Brunei
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cape Verde
• Cambodia
• Cameroon
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Chile
• China (categories: 6^^, 25[a]++, 25[b]++, 26^^)
• Colombia
• Congo
• Costa Rica
• Cuba
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Djibouti
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• Egypt (categories: 13++)
• El Salvador
• Eswatini
• Fiji
• Gabon
• Gambia
• Georgia
• Ghana
• Grenada
• Guatemala
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Guyana
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Hong Kong
• India (category: 1[a]++, 1[b]++, 4^^, 20^^, 26++)
• Indonesia
• Ivory Coast
• Jamaica
• Jordan
• Kazakhstan
• Kenya
• Kuwait
• Kyrgyzstan
• Laos
• Lesotho
• Liberia
• Macao
• Madagascar
• Malawi
• Malaysia
• Maldives
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Mauritius
• Mexico
• Moldova
• Mongolia
• Montenegro
• Morocco
• Mozambique
• Myanmar (Burma)
• Namibia
• Nepal
• Nicaragua
• Niger
• Nigeria
• North Macedonia
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Panama
• Papua New Guinea
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Philippines
• Qatar
• Rwanda
• St Kitts and Nevis
• St Lucia
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Samoa
• Saudi Arabia
• Senegal
• Seychelles
• Sierra Leone
• Solomon Islands
• South Africa
• Sri Lanka
• Suriname
• Tajikistan
• Tanzania
• Thailand
• Togo
• Tonga
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Tunisia
• Turkey (categories: 1[a]^^, 1[b] ++, 12[b]^^ 13^^, 16 ++, 17++, 20^^, 2 1^^, 26^^)
• Uganda
• Ukraine
• United Arab Emirates (categories: 21++, 26^^)
• Uruguay
• Vanuatu
• Venezuela
• Vietnam (categories: 1[a]++, 1[b]++, 4++, 13++)
• Yemen
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

Key:

^^denotes a quota amount for the goods category is allocated for the country or territory

++ denotes the quota amount for the goods category allocated to all other countries or territories is available for the country or territory.

Annex Table 1: order numbers for importers to access the tariff-rate quota on steel goods

Goods category	Origin country or territory	Order number
E [13]	European Union	058018
E [13]	Turkey	058866
E [13]	All others	See online tariff tool