EU Files An Appeal For DS616 Steel Dispute, Trade Minister Budi Asks For CVD Policy To Change Immediately

JAKARTA - Indonesia regrets the European Union (EU)'s move to appeal against the WTO Panel's decision in the DS616 dispute over the countervaliding duties (CVD) policy on non-corruption steel products in Indonesia.

The EU's stance was considered to hinder dispute resolution, especially when the WTO Banding Agency was not working.

For your information, CVD or import duty is an additional tariff imposed by a country on imported goods when the country considers that the product gets an unfair subsidy from its original government, so it is considered detrimental to the domestic industry of the importing country.

Minister of Trade Budi Santoso emphasized that the panel decision had clearly won Indonesia.

The panel stated that the EU's imposition of CVD was wrong and violated the WTO rules.

Therefore, according to him, the EU should immediately stop the implementation of the CVD.

The WTO panel has examined the case objectively, then concluded that the EU's imposition of CVD on non-fit steel products from Indonesia was wrong and violated the WTO rules. The EU should have stopped its CVD imposition. We are very concerned about the EU's appeal that caused the panel's decision to not be adopted," he said in an official statement, Thursday, December 4.

Budi said that even though the appeal is the right of every WTO member, this step should be aimed at finding legal certainty, not as a covert strategy so that policies that are considered violating can still apply.

The EU decision to appeal to the WTO Banding Agency that does not function at this time is not constructive in resolving this dispute. In fact, the EU always describes itself as the main supporter of the system based on the rules," he said.

Furthermore, Budi assessed that the EU did not show the maximum intention to resolve disputes outside the WTO appeal mechanism.

He said Indonesia was open to various options, but the EU only limited the alternative through the interim appeal scheme they carried themselves, namely the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA).

MPIA is an alternative dispute resolution system run by WTO as long as the WTO Appeal Agency has not been able to run.

The Indonesian government is always open to exploring options for resolving disputes in this case. However, the EU limits the option only to the alternative appeal mechanism it carries, namely MPIA. The Indonesian government will continue to seek the resolution of this dispute and urge the EU to immediately change its CVD policy," he said.

To note, the DS616 dispute stems from the EU's accusation that the Indonesian government provides illegal subsidies that are considered detrimental to the EU domestic industry.

Then, the EU imposed a fee import duty of 13.5 to 21.4 percent of non-catch steel products from Indonesia since March 2022.

On January 24, 2023, the Indonesian government sued the policy to the WTO Dispute Settlement Agency in response to EU allegations.

The results of the Panel's decision in support of Indonesia's lawsuit were issued on October 2, 2025. The EU previously also filed an appeal in the Dispute on Biodiesel DS618.

"These two things have a negative impact on export performance to the EU in the midst of efforts to strengthen bilateral trade cooperation between the two parties," said Budi.