18 Prohibition and elimination of certain measuresA member does not take or request emergency measures against the importation of certain products pursuant to Article XIX of the GATT of 1994, unless these measures are in accordance with the provisions of this article which are applied under this agreement. In addition, a member cannot seek, take or maintain voluntary export restrictions, orderly marketing agreements or similar measures on the export or import side. This agreement does not apply to measures under the 1994 GATT provisions, known as GATT 1994, and to the multilateral trade agreements in Schedule 1A, which are not this agreement, or to the protocols and agreements or agreements concluded under the 1994 GATT (s. 11). 1) clarifying and strengthening the disciplines of the GATT, in particular the information s. XIX; 2) multilateral control over safeguards and the elimination of measures beyond that control; and (3) to promote the structural adjustment of industries affected by increased imports, thereby strengthening competition in international markets. 15 Amount of concessions and other commitments in the absence of an agreement (…), the exporting member concerned is then free (…) to suspend the application of concessions substantially equivalent to the trade of the member applying the protection measure, at the expiration of a period of thirty days from the date on which the Council for Trade in Goods receives a written notification of that suspension. unless the Commission disapproves of the suspension for trade in goods (Article 8.2) The right of suspension is not exercised for the first three years during which a safeguard measure is in effect, provided that it was taken as a result of an absolute increase in imports (Article 8.3) 8 Application of safeguard measuresA Member State applies safeguards only to the extent necessary to prevent or repair serious harm and facilitate adjustment. When a quantitative restriction is used, such a measure should not lower the volume of imports below the level of a last period corresponding to the average of imports over the last three representative years. In cases where a quota is distributed among the supplier countries, the member applying the restrictions may endeavour to reach an agreement on the allocation of quotas with all other members who have a considerable interest in delivering the product concerned. , ordered marketing agreements and similar measures) to limit imports of certain products. These measures were not imposed under Article XIX and are therefore not subject to the multilateral discipline of the GATT and the legality of these measures under the GATT was questionable. The agreement now clearly prohibits these measures and contains specific provisions to eliminate the measures in force when the WTO agreement came into force.
The repeated application of protection measures for a particular product is limited by the agreement. As a general rule, a safeguard clause can only be re-applied to a product after the expiry of a period equal to the duration of the original safeguard clause, as long as the non-request period is at least two years. Article 1 provides that the SG agreement is the instrument for applying the measures provided for in Article XIX of the GATT of 1994. In other words, any measure for which the scope of Article XIX (which allows the suspension of GATT concessions and obligations in defined emergency situations) must be taken in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty on the General Protection Enterprise.