ISLAMABAD, Nov 19: The 148 WTO-member countries have imposed 68 safeguard measures against the total initiations of 139 safeguard investigation pursuant to the Agreement on Safeguards during the period January 1, 1995 to June 30, 2005.

According to a report, prepared by WTO secretariat, these totals are relatively low, compared to the 2743 anti-dumping initiations and 1729 anti-dumping measures, and the 176 countervailing duty initiations and 108 countervailing duties measures notified during the same period under review.

The number of initiations of safeguard investigations peaked in 2002 at 34. The number of initiations has declined since then, with 14 initiations in 2004 and 4 initiations for the most recent period, January 1, 2005 to June 30, 2005.

The member notifying the largest number of initiations since 1995 was India, with 15 initiations. Chile, Jordan and the United States followed, with 10 initiations each. The Czech Republic was third with 9 initiations. The 4 initiations reported for the most recent period (January-June 2005) were by Canada, Jordan, Morocco and Pakistan.

The most frequent subjects of investigation since 1995 were chemical products (25), base metals (21), foodstuffs (15), vegetables (13) and animal products (12). For the period January-June 2005, the products subject to newly notified investigations were bicycles (transport equipment), insecticides (chemicals), ceramic tiles (ceramic/glass products) and footwear.

Concerning application of new final safeguard measures, since 1995, India reported the largest number (8), followed by Chile and the United States (6 measures each), followed by the Czech Republic and the Philippines (5 measures each). During the period January-June 2005 Chile, the European Communities and Indonesia each notified one new measure, on wheat flour (vegetable products), salmon (animal products) and ceramic tableware (ceramic/glass products), respectively. The European Communities subsequently notified in April 2005 that the measure on salmon was terminated.

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.