D31   General (multilateral) safeguard

A temporary border measure imposed on imports of a product to prevent or remedy serious injury caused by increased imports of that product and to facilitate adjustment.  A country may take a “safeguard” action (i.e., temporarily suspend multilateral concessions) in respect of imports of a product from all sources where an investigation has established that increased imports of the product are causing or threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic industry that produces like or directly competitive products.  Safeguard measures can take various forms, including increased duties, quantitative restrictions, and others (e.g., tariff-rate quotas, pricebased measures, special levies, etc.).