Application of measures. 1. When imposing safeguard measures, the Parties shall endeavour to impose them in a way that affects their bilateral trade the least.
Application of measures. 1. Members confirm their commitment to announce publicly, as soon as possible, time- schedules for the removal of restrictive import measures taken for balance-of-payments purposes. It is understood that such time-schedules may be modified as appropriate to take into account changes in the balance-of-payments situation. Whenever a time-schedule is not publicly announced by a Member, that Member shall provide justification as to the reasons therefor.
Application of measures. Safeguard measures may only be applied to the extent necessary to remedy or prevent serious injury and to facilitate adjustment, within certain limits. If the measure takes the form of a quantitative restriction, the level must not be below the actual import level of the most recent three representative years, unless there is clear justification for doing otherwise. Rules also apply as to how quota shares are to be allocated among supplier countries, as to compensation to Members whose trade is affected, and as to consultations with affected Members. The maximum duration of any safeguard measure is four years, unless it is extended consistent with the Agreement's provisions. In particular, a measure may be extended only if its continuation is found to be necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury, and only if evidence shows that the industry is adjusting. The initial period of application plus any extension normally cannot exceed eight years. In addition, safeguard measures in place for longer than one year must be progressively liberalized at regular intervals during the period of application. If a measure is extended beyond the initial period of application, it can be no more restrictive during this period than it was at the end of the initial period, and it should continue to be liberalized. Any measure of more than three years duration must be reviewed at mid-term. If appropriate based on that review, the Member applying the measure must withdraw it or increase the pace of its liberalization. Under critical circumstances, defined as circumstances where delay would cause damage that would be difficult to repair, provisional measures may be imposed. Such measures may be in the form of tariff increases only, and may be kept in place for a maximum of 200 days. In addition, the period of application of any provisional measure must be included in the total period of application of a safeguard measure. Repeated application of safeguards with respect to a given product is limited by the Agreement. Ordinarily, a safeguard may not be applied again to a product until a period equal to the duration of the original safeguard has elapsed, so long as the period of non-application is at least two years. Nonetheless, if a new safeguard measure has a duration of 180 days or less, it may be applied so long as one year has elapsed since the date the original safeguard measure was introduced, and so long as no more than two safeguard measures have been applied on the pr...
