The Commission improves transparency and simplifies communication of trade defence procedures

The Commission has today taken further steps to increase transparency in its trade defence procedures and to simplify communication with involved stakeholders. Commenting on these steps that follow up on the “Trade for All” strategy launched in October 2015, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said: “I’m committed to making trade policy more transparent across-the-board, including for trade defence. With the on-going steel crisis, we need more engagement between the Commission’s trade defence services and everyone concerned, including small businesses who struggle with unfair imports. With these new tools to improve two-way communication, we hope for more contributions to help us better address the industry’s legitimate concerns.” A summary document will be published to provide background on each request for a Commission investigation or review of existing anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures and further summaries will be published systematically. The goal is to help spread the information about any starting investigation to the public at large and guarantee that all interested parties can bring their contribution. In addition, the Commission will put in place a new online platform improving communication between stakeholders involved in the ongoing proceedings that will provide relief particularly to smaller companies