08.11.2007
The WTO Secretariat, on 7 November 2007 , published the latest statistics on safeguards actions notified by WTO Members pursuant to the Agreement on Safeguards According to these statistics, since 1 January 1995 and until 31 October 2007 , a total of 159 safeguard investigations were initiated, and a total of 82 safeguard measures were imposed.
The number of safeguard investigations newly initiated during the most recent period, 1 January — 31 October 2007 , was 4. The number of new initiations of safeguard investigations peaked in 2002 at 34, and the figures have stayed low since then, with 15 initiations, 14 initiations, 7 initiations, and 13 initiations in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively.
The Member notifying the largest number of new initiations since 1995 was India , with 15 initiations. Jordan followed with 12 initiations, Chile and Turkey with 11 initiations each, and the United States with 10 initiations. The 4 initiations notified during the most recent period (1 January- 31 October 2007 ) were from Australia , Jordan , South Africa and Turkey .
Concerning application of new final safeguard measures, during the period 1 January - 31 October 2007 , 4 new measures were imposed. These measures were notified from Argentina , Jordan , Panama and Turkey . The number of new final measures peaked in 2003 at 15, and the figures have stayed low since then, with 6 measures, 6 measures and 7 measures in 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively. Since 1995, India reported the largest number of measures (9), followed by Chile and Turkey (7 measures each), followed by Jordan and the United States (6 measures each).
The most frequent subject of investigations since 1995 were chemical products (28 initiations), base metals and articles of base metal (21 initiations), foodstuffs (15 initiations), and ceramics (15 initiations). For the period 1 January- 31 October 2007 , the products subject to newly notified investigations were animal product, chemical, ceramic, and optical instrument (1 initiation each).
Pursuant to Article 2.2 of the Agreement on Safeguards, safeguard measures are applied irrespective of the source of the imported product, with the exception of imports originating in developing country Members pursuant to Article 9.1 of the Agreement on Safeguards.
The data reported above are based on the notifications made by Members in accordance with Article 12.1 of the Agreement on Safeguards during the period specified, and does not include notifications of measures taken in accordance with Article 5 of the Agreement on Agriculture or Section 16 of the Protocol on the Accession of the People's Republic of China.