United Kingdom Egypt

LONDON, 12 March 2024 / PRN Africa / --

A countervailing measure on continuous glass fibre products from Egypt has been varied to remove mats made of glass fibre filaments.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade has today (Tuesday 12 March 2024) accepted the TRA’s recommendation that a countervailing measure on continuous filament glass fibre products from Egypt be amended following a TRA scope review.

A scope review looks at whether an existing trade remedy measure’s scope is still appropriate. In this case, the scope of the original transitioned measure included different varieties of continuous glass fibre, namely chopped strands, rovings and mats. Following a review, the TRA recommended that the description of the goods be varied to exclude mats.

The TRA received an application from GRP Solutions Ltd (GRP Solutions) claiming that as countervailing measures on mats made of glass fibre filaments from China (excluding mats of glass wool) were revoked as part of a previous transition review (TS0009), duties should also be removed in respect of the same goods imported from Egypt.

While the transition review into continuous filament glass fibre products from China found that the measure should be kept on imports of chopped strands and rovings, it found no evidence of mats being produced in the UK. Therefore, GRP Solutions argued if the measure was revoked for this reason on mats from China, it should also be revoked on mats from Egypt.

In its scope review, the TRA also determined that mats are not produced in the UK, there are no plans for domestic production in the foreseeable future and that mats are not able to replace any of the glass fibre products that are produced in the UK.

Following the acceptance of the recommendation, the countervailing measure will now only apply to:

-Chopped glass fibre strands, of a length of not more than 50mm;

-And glass fibre rovings, excluding glass fibre rovings which are impregnated and coated and have a loss on ignition of more than 3% (as determined by the ISO Standard 1887).

The TRA’s initial findings were published in a Statement of Essential Facts.

SOURCE UK Trade Remedies Authority