Bilateral Safeguard Measures 1. Where, as a result of the reduction or elimination of a customs duty under this Agreement, any product originating in a Party is being imported into the territory of another Party in such increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to domestic production, and under such conditions as to constitute a substantial cause of serious injury or threat thereof to the domestic industry of like or directly competitive products in the territory of the importing Party, the importing Party may take bilateral safeguard measures to the minimum extent necessary to remedy or prevent the injury, subject to the provisions of paragraphs 2 to 10.
2. Bilateral safeguard measures shall only be taken upon clear evidence that increased imports have caused or are threatening to cause serious injury pursuant to an investigation in accordance with the procedures laid down in the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.
3. The Party intending to take a bilateral safeguard measure under this Article shall immediately, and in any case before taking a measure, make notification to the other Parties and the Joint Committee. The notification shall contain all pertinent information, which shall include evidence of serious injury or threat thereof caused by increased imports, a precise description of the product involved and the proposed measure, as well as the proposed date of introduction, expected duration and timetable for the progressive removal of the measure. A Party that may be affected by the measure shall be offered compensation in the form of substantially equivalent trade liberalisation in relation to the imports from any such Party.
4. If the conditions set out in paragraph 1 are met, the importing Party may take measures consisting in increasing the rate of customs duty for the product to a level not to exceed the lesser of:
(a) the MFN rate of duty applied at the time the action is taken; or
(b) the MFN rate of duty applied on the day immediately preceding the date of the entry into force of this Agreement.
5. Bilateral safeguard measures shall be taken for a period not exceeding one year. In very exceptional circumstances, after review by the Joint Committee, measures may be taken up to a total maximum period of three years. No measure shall be applied to the import of a product which has previously been subject to such a measure.
6. The Joint Committee shall within 30 days from the date of notification examine the information provided under paragraph 3 in order to facilitate a mutually acceptable resolution of the matter. In the absence of such resolution, the importing Party may adopt a measure pursuant to paragraph 4 to remedy the problem, and, in the absence of mutually agreed compensation, the Party against whose product the measure is taken may take compensatory action. The bilateral safeguard measure and the compensatory action shall be immediately notified to the other Parties and the Joint Committee. In the selection of the bilateral safeguard measure and the compensatory action, priority must be given to the measure which least disturbs the functioning of this Agreement. The compensatory action shall normally consist of suspension of concessions having substantially equivalent trade effects or concessions substantially equivalent to the value of the additional duties expected to result from the bilateral safeguard measure. The Party taking compensatory action shall apply the action only for the minimum period necessary to achieve the substantially equivalent trade effects and in any event, only while the measure under paragraph 4 is being applied.
7. Upon the termination of the measure, the rate of customs duty shall be the rate which would have been in effect but for the measure.
8. In critical circumstances, where delay would cause damage which would be difficult to repair, a Party may take a provisional emergency measure pursuant to a preliminary determination that there is clear evidence that increased imports constitute a substantial cause of serious injury, or threat thereof, to the domestic industry. The Party intending to take such a measure shall immediately notify the other Parties and the Joint Committee thereof. Within 30 days of the date of the notification, the procedures set out in paragraphs 2 to 6, including for compensatory action, shall be initiated. Any compensation shall be based on the total period of application of the provisional emergency measure and of the emergency measure.
9. Any provisional measure shall be terminated within 200 days at the latest. The period of application of any such provisional measure shall be counted as part of the duration of the measure set out in paragraph 5 and any extension thereof. Any tariff increases shall be promptly refunded if the investigation described in paragraph 2 does not result in a finding that the conditions of paragraph 1 are met.
10. Five years after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, the Parties shall review in the Joint Committee whether there is need to maintain the possibility to take safeguard measures between them. If the Parties decide, after the first review, to maintain such possibility, they shall thereafter conduct biennial reviews of this matter in the Joint Committee.