G/SG/N/1/MMR/2  
 
5 August 2022  
(22-6007) Page: 1/10 
Committee on Safeguards  
 Original: English  
 
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER  
ARTICLE 12.6 OF THE AGREEMENT  
MYANMAR  
 
The following notification, dated and received on 28 July 2022, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of Myanmar.  
 
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In accordance with Article 12.6 of the Agreement on Safeguards, the Republic of the Union of 
Myanmar is notifying to the Committee on Safeguards as follows:  
 
The responsible structures in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar have adopted the "The Safeguard 
on Increased Imports Law" on 24.12.2019 and entered into force on 1.7.2021. The text of the law 
is reproduced below and will be available in the website of M inistry of Commerce at 
http://www.commerce.gov.mm  in Myanmar and English.  
 
The Safeguard on Increased Imports Law establishes the "Department of Trade" in the Ministry of 
Commerce as the competent authority tasked with administering the Law, initiating and conducting 
safeguard investigations, determining the serious injury or thr eat of serious injuries and making 
recommendations on provisional and definitive safeguards measures. The Safeguard on Increased 
Imports Law also establishes "the safeguard on Increased Imports committee " which will adopt 
provisional and definitive safegua rd measures.  
 
 
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  G/SG/N/1/MMR/2  
 
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  Republic of the Union of Myanmar  
The Safeguard on Increased Imports Law  
(The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw No. 35, 2019)  
The 13th Waning Day of Nadaw, 1381 M.E.  
(24 December 2019)  
The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw hereby enacts this Law.   
CHAPTER I  
Title, Enforcement and Definitions  
1. (a) This Law shall be called the Safeguard on Increased Imports Law . 
 (b) This Law shall come into force on the date specified by the President, by notification.  
2. The following expressions in this Law shall  have the same meanings given below:  
 (a) Committee  means the Safeguard on Increased Imports Committee formed under this 
law; 
 (b) Ministry  means the Ministry of Commerce of the Union Government;  
 (c) Department  means the Department assigned by the Ministry to undertake the matters 
pertaining to safeguard measures;  
 (d) Investigating Body  means the body formed and assigned by the Committee to carry 
out the functions of this Law;  
 (e) Increased imports  means the i ncreased quantity of any kind of product imported into 
the country, either absolute or relative to the domestic production of the like or directly 
competitive product;  
 (f) Safeguard measures  means the measure to be applied for prevention and remedy if 
the increased quantity of a product imported into the country causes or threatens to 
cause serious injury to the domestic industry that produces the like or directly 
competitive product. This expression also includes the imposition of the provisional 
safeguar d duty, safeguard duty or quantitative restriction on imports;  
 (g) Provisional safeguard  duty means a temporary additional duty including the customs 
duty imposed under the Tariff Law to prevent and remedy serious injury or threat thereof 
to the domestic industry during the period of investigation;  
 (h) Safeguard duty  means an additional duty for a certain period of time including the 
customs duty imposed under the Tariff Law to prevent and remedy serious injury or 
threat thereof to the domestic producers according to the final decision on the 
completion of investigation;  
 (i) Quantitative restrict ion on imports  means a restriction on the importation of 
quantity of the investigated product for a certain period of time to prevent and remedy 
serious injury or threat thereof to the domestic producers according to the final decision 
on the completion of  investigation;  
 (j) Domestic industry  means:  
  (i) a domestic producer of the like or directly competitive product;  
  (ii) a domestic producer of the like or directly competitive product constituted a major 
proportion of the product;  G/SG/N/1/MMR/2  
 
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   (k) Serious injury  means a significant overall impairment in the position of the domestic  
industry;  
 (l)  Like product  means a domestically produced product which is identical or closely 
resembles the investigated product;  
 (m) Directly competitive product  means a domesticall y produced product that serves as 
a substitute and is directly competitive with the investigated product in terms of its utility 
purpose or commercial competitiveness in the market, despite differences in chemical 
composition or other technical or physical  characteristics;  
 (n) Investigated product  means the imported product investigated under this Law;  
 (o) Interested parties  means:  
  (i) the foreign exporter or foreign producer of the investigated product;  
  (ii) the importer of the investigated product;  
  (iii) the trade and business association comprising a majority of the members in clause 
(i) or (ii);  
  (iv) the government of the country exporting the investigated product;  
  (v) the domestic producer;  
  (vi) the trade and business  association formed with domestic producers;  
 (p) Developing country  means a country in the list of developing countries designated by 
the United Nations.  
Chapter II  
Objectives  
3. The objectives of this Law are:  
 (a) to conduct a systematic investigation i f the increased imports of a product have caused 
or threatened to cause serious injury to domestic producers;  
 (b) to support the competitiveness of domestic producers within a period of time;  
 (c) to apply the sufficient safeguard measures on the imports for prevention and remedy 
for an injury if the causal link exists between such injury or threat of injury and the 
increased imports.  
Chapter III  
Formation of the Safeguard on Increased Imports Committee and its Functions  
4. The Union Government:  
 (a) Shall form the Safeguard on Increased Imports Committee with the  following persons 
comprising not more than 15 persons:  
  (i) Union Minister  Chairperson  
   Ministry of Commerce  
  (ii) Deputy Minister  Vice-Chairperson  G/SG/N/1/MMR/2  
 
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     Ministry of Planning, Finance and Industry  
  (iii) Persons not lower than the position of  Members  
   Director General from the relevant government  
   Departments or government organizations  
  (iv) An appropriate international trade economist  Member  
  (v) An appropriate internat ional trade legal expert  Member  
  (vi) President of the Union of Myanmar Federation  Member  
   of Chambers of Commerce and Industry  
  (vii) Director General of the Department  Secretary  
 (b) may appoint the joint -secretary in forming the Committee under subs ection (a);  
 (c) may re -form the Committee formed under subsection (a).  
5. The functions and powers of the Committee are:  
 (a) to decide whether the initiation of investigation conducted by the Department should be 
investigated regarding the application of  safeguard measures;  
 (b) to form and assign the Investigating Body to conduct investigation and make 
recommendations;  
 (c) to make a decision on the appropriate safeguard measure after scrutinizing the findings 
and recommendations submitted by the Investi gating Body through the Department;  
 (d) to obtain the approval of the Union Government for the decision on the safeguard 
measure;  
 (e) to implement safeguard measures without delay;  
 (f) to advise the Ministry for the effective implementation of this Law;  
 (g) to request necessary statistics, information and evidence from the relevant government 
departments and government organizations or interested parties for the implementation 
of this law;  
 (h) to delegate any of its power to the Department or Investiga ting Body;  
 (i) to form and assign working committees if necessary.  
Chapter IV  
Duties and Powers of the Department  
6. The duties and powers of the Department are:  
 (a ) to submit the application of a safeguard measure to the Committee after scrutinizing 
whether it is fulfilled the required documents;  
 (b) to supervise the Investigating Body;  
 (c) to report the findings and recommendations of the Investigating Body to the Committee;  G/SG/N/1/MMR/2  
 
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   (d) to arrange for holding the meeting of the Committee to d etermine the investigation 
results as soon as possible;  
 (e) to maintain the statistics, information and evidence requested from the relevant 
government departments and government organizations or interested parties;  
 (f) to undertake all office works of t he Committee and Investigating Body;  
 (g) to perform the duties assigned by the Committee from time to time.  
Chapter V  
Initiation of Investigation  
7. A domestic producer or his agent who has been caused or threatened to cause  serious injury 
for increased i mports shall apply to the Committee to investigate for  prevention and remedy in 
accordance with specifications. The Committee shall assign  to the Department for initiation of 
investigation of the application.  
8. The Department shall initially scrutinize wh ether the application is fulfilled the required 
documents, and submit it to the Committee, within five working days from the date of  receipt of the 
application.  
9. On the submission under section 8, the Committee shall:  
 (a) direct the applicant to amend a nd resubmit the complete application if it is  not fulfilled 
the required documents;  
 (b) decide whether or not to conduct investigation.  
10. If the Department directs the applicant to amend and resubmit the application for 
investigation, the applicant shal l complete and re -submit the application within the prescribed 
period.  
11. If the Committee directs that it decides not to conduct investigation, the Department shall 
notify the applicant in writing as soon as possible.  
Chapter VI  
Investigation  
12. If the Committee decides to conduct investigation, it shall form the Investigating Body with 
Department staff proficient in the subject matter or with experts from relevant government 
departments and organizations led by the Department st aff proficient in the subject matter.  
13. The Investigating Body shall:  
 (a) conduct the investigation from the date assigned to it;  
 (b) inform the interested parties including the applicant for the initiation of such 
investigation.  
14. The Investigating Body may request the necessary statistics, information and evidence, in 
conducting the investigation, from the relevant government departments and government 
organizations or interested parties with the approval of the Committee.  
15. The Investigating Body  may ask questions, hear or carry out other appropriate means to the 
interested parties in conducting the investigation.  G/SG/N/1/MMR/2  
 
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  16. The Investigating Body shall submit the findings of preliminary determination during the period 
of investigation or final determina tion after investigation to the Committee through the Department 
within the period prescribed by the Committee.  
17. The Investigating Body shall treat the secret of business, and statistics, information and 
evidence related to such secret in conducting the investigation as confidential basis.  
18. The Committee, Department and Investigating Body shall not disclose the confidential 
statistics, information and evidence except for the implementation of the objectives of this Law 
without the approv al of the relevant person.  
19. If the relevant person submits statistics, information and evidence to be confidential, the 
Investigating Body shall request to submit the non -confidential summaries that enable 
comprehensive understanding of the issue, and i ndicate the reasons why a summary cannot be 
provided to the relevant person if such information cannot be summarized.  
20. The Investigating Body may disregard any of the following statistics, information and evidence, 
in conducting the investigation:  
 (a) statistics, information and evidence that confidentiality is not warranted;  
 (b) statistics , information and evidence submitted in the form of non -confidential  summary 
which are not permitted by the relevant person to make the information public.  
Chapter  VII 
Determination of Serious Injury and Imposition of Provisional Safeguard Duty  
21. The Investigating Body shall, in determining whether increased imports have caused or 
threatened to cause serious injury to the domestic industry, evaluate other necessary factors related 
to such industry including the following factors:  
 (a) the amount and rate of the increased imports;  
 (b) the share of the domestic market taken by increased imports of the product;  
 (c) the changes in the level of sales;  
 (d) the changes in the level of production;  
 (e) the changes in the level of productivity;  
 (f) the changes in the level of profits and losses;  
 (g) the changes in the level of employment.  
22. The Investigating Body shall determine and submit that the increased i mports have caused or 
threatened to cause serious injury to the domestic industry only if the existence of the causal link 
between the serious injury or threat thereof to the industry and the increased imports can be 
demonstrated.  
23. If the Investigating Body finds that factors other than the increased imports are causing or 
threatening to cause injury to the domestic industry, it shall not attribute and submit such injury to 
the increased imports.  
24. If the Investigating Body finds that there are critica l circumstances where the damage to 
domestic industry would be difficult to repair under the preliminary determination, it shall report the 
imposition of the provisional safeguard duty on the product imported within the period under 
investigation to the Co mmittee through the Department.  G/SG/N/1/MMR/2  
 
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  25. The Committee may:  
 (a) decide the imposition of the provisional safeguard duty under section 24 before the final 
decision;  
 (b) allow the imposition of the provisional safeguard duty up to a maximum of 200 days.  
Chapter  VIII 
Determination and Application of Safeguard Measures  
26. The Investigating Body shall submit the findings of final determination with  recommendations 
to the Committee through the Department after investigation  within the prescribed period.  
27. If the Committee finds that there are neither increased imports nor serious  injury or threat 
thereof under the final determination, it shall decide to terminate the  imposition of the provisional 
safeguard duty.  
28. If the Committee finds that there are increa sed imports and the increased  imports have caused 
or serious injury or threatened to cause serious injury under the final determination, it may decide 
to apply one or more of the following safeguard  measures on the investigated product:  
 (a) imposition of a safeguard duty;  
 (b) quantitative restriction on imports.  
29. The Committee shall determine only the extent necessary to facilitate an  adjustment plan by 
the domestic industry and to prevent and remedy their injury in  determination of the safeguard 
measure under section 28.  
30. The Committee shall not determine the amount less than average imports level  based on the 
lists imported in the last three years regarding the investigated products  where determining 
quantitative restriction on impor ts under subsection (b) of section  28. Provided that the amount less 
than average imports quantity may be determined  where the sufficient justification to prevent and 
remedy for serious injury or threat  thereof is found.  
31. The Committee shall:  
 (a) allocate the import quota for each country where more than one country  exports the 
investigated product;  
 (b) attempt to reach agreement with those countries having substantial  interests in 
supplying the product into the country, in allocating under  subsection (a). 
32. The Committee shall restrict and allocate the amount based on the proportion  of the aggregate 
quantity or value of the imports of that product from such countries  into the country in the last three 
years where no agreement is reached for the  allocation of imports under section 31.  
33. The Committee shall not apply the safeguard measure where the investigated  product is 
imported from the developing country into the country and they meet any  of the following factors:  
 (a) the share of imports from a developing country does not exceed three  percent of the 
total imports quantity of that product into the country;  
 (b) If imports from developing countries which individually account for less  than three 
percent share of the total import quantity of that product  collectively account for not 
more than nine percent of total imports  quantity of that product into the country;  
34. If the Committee makes any of the following decision on the provisional  safeguard duty 
collected under this law, the relevant govern ment department and  organization shall, without delay:  G/SG/N/1/MMR/2  
 
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   (a) decide to refund the differential amount where the safeguard duty imposed  after the 
final determination is less than the provisional safeguard duty  already imposed and 
collected;  
 (b) decide to re fund the provisional safeguard duty collected on the termination  of imposition 
of the provisional safeguard duty under Section 27.  
Chapter IX  
Notification and Request for Information  
35. The Department shall notify the applicants and interested parties wit h the relevant facts, and 
publicize the following decision of the committee within the specified period:  
 (a) deciding whether or not to conduct investigation, and deciding to initiate investigation 
in case of making decision to conduct the investigation;  
 (b) deciding on termination and suspension of investigation;  
 (c) preliminary determination;  
 (d) decision to impose the provisional safeguard duty;  
 (e) final decision on application, extension or termination of a safeguard measure;  
 (f) decision on the results of review.  
36. The Committee shall notify the World Trade Organization through the Ministry without delay 
of the decision to initiate investigation and the final decision regarding the application, extension or 
termination of a safeguard measure.  
37. The Committee may, if necessary, request information and evidence pertaining to the 
investigation from the exporter, producer, association and government of the relevant country 
through the Ministry by the embassy of the relevant country or by any other  means which are agreed 
among the relevant countries.  
38. The exporters, producers and interested parties shall provide information and evidence within 
30 days from the date of receipt of the notice requested under section 37 or within the extension 
period  permitted by the Committee.  
39. The interested parties shall provide confidential statistics, information and evidence requested 
to be presented by the Investigating Body in the summary form. If they cannot provide them as 
such, the sufficient reason shal l be furnished.  
Chapter X  
Duration, Liberalization and Review of Safeguard Measures  
40. The duration of the safeguard measure under Section 28 shall be only the period necessary to 
prevent or remedy the injury to the domestic industry and to facilitate pos itive adjustment.  
41. In applying the safeguard measure:  
 (a) the initial application period of the safeguard measure on a product shall not exceed four 
years;  
 (b) the maximum period of the safeguard measure in subsection (a) including the extension 
period of the product shall not exceed ten years;  G/SG/N/1/MMR/2  
 
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   (c) if the new safeguard measure shall be applied again on the import of the product has 
been applied, it may be re -applied only at least two years had elapsed after the 
expiration of the previous safeguard mea sure. 
42. The domestic industry shall:  
 (a) apply to the Committee for the extension of the safeguard measure applied under section 
28 at least six months prior to the expiry of the initial period. The copy of application 
shall be sent to the Department;  
 (b) present the evidence for facilitation of positive adjustment, in applying under sub -section 
(a), in accordance with specifications.  
43. The Investigating Body shall determine as to whether the extension should be granted or not 
in accordance with this Law, and submit it to the Committee.  
44. The Committee may extend the period of the safeguard measure on the application under 
Section 42. The measure applied within the extension period shall not be more restrictive than the 
measure presently being applied.  
45. The Committee may apply the safeguard measure again for a maximum of 180 days or less 
on the import of a product, if:  
 (a) at least one year has elapsed since the date of the introduction of a safeguard measure 
on the investiga ted product;  
 (b) It has not been applied on the same product more than twice in the five years from the 
date of safeguard measure.  
46. The Committee may liberalize progressively the application of the safeguard measure in case 
of the duration of the safeg uard measure applied under section 29 exceeds one year.  
47. The Investigating Body shall conduct periodic reviews, or, in the case of measures that exceed 
three years, conduct reviews no later than the mid -term of such period, and report to the Committee 
through the Department to maintain, liberalize or withdraw the imposition of such safeguard 
measures.  
48. If the Committee decides to maintain or liberalize or withdraw the safeguard measure, the 
Ministry shall issue notification or directive for such decis ion as soon as possible, and notify the 
government departments and interested parties including the Customs Department.  
49. In applying the safeguard measure under section 25 or 29 except the concessions granted to 
the developing countries, the import of p roducts originating from any country shall have effect to 
maintain substantially equivalent level of concessions on safeguard measures.  
Chapter XI  
Miscellaneous  
50. The interested parties under this Law are entitled to submit the relevant evidence during t he 
period of investigation in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the Committee whether the 
matter investigated is the public interests.  
51. The Committee shall reject false and incorrect statistics, information and evidence submitted 
by the inter ested parties, and may take appropriate action against such submission.  
52. In applying the safeguard measures, the Ministry of Planning, Finance and Industry shall 
impose the provisional safeguard duty on imports, and the Ministry shall make quantitative 
restriction on imports in accordance with the rules, regulations, by -laws, notifications, orders, 
directives and procedures issued under this Law.  G/SG/N/1/MMR/2  
 
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  53. The interested party included in investigation is entitled to appeal to the Tax Appellate Tribunal 
for re view of the appeal in accordance with the law within 30 days from the date of notice of 
imposition of the provisional safeguard duty and safeguard duty.  
54. The Committee shall direct the relevant department for implementation of the decision of the 
Tax Ap pellate Tribunal.  
55. The relevant Tax Law and Tariff Law, regulations, by -laws and procedures shall be applied for 
the imposition of a duty under subsection (a) of section 25 and subsection (a) of section 28, and 
refunding a duty under section 34.  
56. The Ministry shall manage the persons who implement this Law to learn the legal knowledge 
and know -how. 
57. The Ministry may prescribe and collect the cost or fee from applicant for the investigation and 
review process by issuing the order or notification.  
58. The Ministry shall assign the Department for undertaking the office works of the Committee 
and Investigating Body.  
59. The Ministry shall bear the costs of the Committee and Investigating Body from the 
expenditure of the Ministry.  
60. The Ministry shall prescribe remuneration and allowance of the members of the Committee 
who are non -civil servants with the approval of the Union Government.  
61. In implementing the provisions of this law:  
 (a) the Ministry may issue necessary rules, regulations and by -laws with the approval of the 
Union Government;  
 (b) the Ministry, the Ministry of Planning, Finance and Industry, and the Committee may 
issue necessary notifications, orders, directives and procedures.  
 
I hereby  sign in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.  
   Sd/Win Myint  
   President  
   Republic of the Union of Myanmar  
 
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