On 14 July 2026, the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced that, on 10 July 2026, South Africa had notified the WTO’s Committee on Safeguards of the initiation of a safeguard investigation into certain cold-rolled iron and steel products imported into the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
In the notification, South Africa pointed out, among other things:
- “Interested parties must make themselves known and provide comments within a period of 20 days after the initiation of the investigation.
- If part of the information provided is of a confidential nature, the party concerned should give grounds to justify confidentiality and furnish public summaries of such information, which should be as detailed as possible. In instances where a public summary cannot be provided, a sworn statement must be provided stating the reasons why the information cannot be summarised. This requirement is designed to ensure transparency and due access to all parties to the information relating to this investigation. If the summaries are not duly provided and in the absence of just cause, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) may disregard the information deemed to be confidential.”
The notification is available on the WTO website under the reference G/SG/N/6/ZAF/14.
What is a safeguard investigation?
A safeguard investigation seeks to determine whether increased imports of a product are causing, or are threatening to cause, serious injury to a domestic industry.
During a safeguard investigation, importers, exporters and other interested parties may present evidence and views and respond to the presentations of other parties.
A WTO member may take a safeguard action (i.e. restrict imports of a product temporarily) only if the increased imports of the product are found to be causing, or threatening to cause, serious injury.