Safeguard Measures
A safeguard measure is an emergency trade remedy applied when a sudden surge in imports of a particular product causes, or threatens to cause, serious injury to the domestic industry of the importing country.
It is a temporary measure designed to curb the rise in imports and provide the affected domestic industry with time to adjust and enhanced its competitiveness.
Safeguard measures may take the form of:
- Quantitative restrictions (e.g., import quotas); or
- Tariffs imposed above the WTO-bound levels.
To impose a safeguard measure, the following three conditions must be satisfied:
- A surge of imports, either in absolute terms or relative to domestic production;
- The domestic industry producing the like product is suffering serious injury or is under threat of serious injury;
- A causal link exists between the surge in imports and the injury suffered.
Safeguard measures must be applied on a non-discriminatory basis (i.e., not targeted at specific countries) and must be progressively liberalized over the duration of application to allow the domestic industry time to adjust
| Legislation | Link to WTO |
