G/SG/N/1/LBR/1  
 
1 December 2017 
(17-6620) Page: 1/8 
Committee on Safeguards  Original: English  
 
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS  AND REGULATIONS UNDE R  
ARTICLE 12.6 OF THE RELEVANT AGREEMENT  
LIBERIA  
The following communication, dated 25 September 2017, is being circulated at the request of  the 
delegation of Liberia . 
_______________  
 
Pursuant to Article 12.6 of the Agreement on Safeguards the Republic of Liberia hereby notifies:  
REGULATION C/REG.4/06/13 RELATING TO SAFEGUARD MEASURES  
The text of the document is attached.  
Should Liberia want to implement any trade defence measure as a  country other than those of 
ECOWAS, the WTO will be notified in advance.  
  G/SG/N/1/LBR/1  
 
- 2 - 
 
   
SEVENTIETH ORDINARY SESSION OF THE COUNC IL OF MINISTERS  
Abidjan, 20 -21 June 2013  
REGULATION C/REG.4/0 6/13 RELATING TO SAF EGUARD MEASURES  
THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS,  
MINDFUL of Arti cles 10, 11, and 12 of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty as amend ed establishing the 
Council of Mi nisters and defining its composition and functions;  
MINDFUL of Articles 35, 36, and 37 of the said Treaty relating to trade liberalization , customs 
duties, and the co mmon ext ernal tariff concerning all imported products from third countries into 
Member States with the view to est ablishing a customs union in the  community;  
MINDFUL of Decision A/DEC.17/10/06 adopting the ECOWAS Common External Tariff. notably 
article 9 o f the said Decision authorizing the Council of Minister to determine through a Regulation 
the list of produ cts, tax base, rate and duration of the imposition of the Import safeguard tax;  
CONSIDERING that safeguard  measures con stitute an additional protection  mechanism to protect 
community production;  
DESIROUS of ensuring a smooth implementation of the Common. External Tari ff by the  adoption 
within this framewo rk of a mechanism for the application of the Import safeguard tax, and in this 
regard, adop t safeguard measures to achieve the above mentioned  objectives;  
ON THE PROPOSAL of the 13th meeting of the joi nt ECOWAS -UEMOA committee for th e 
mana gement of the ECOWA S common external tariff held in D akar on 29 -30 April,  2013:  
UPON THE RECOMMENDATION of the fifty second session of the Techni cal Committee on Trade, 
Customs. and Free movement held in Dakar, on 02 -03 May 2013;  
  G/SG/N/1/LBR/1  
 
- 3 - 
 
  ENACTS  
CHAPTER I : GENERAL PRINCIPLES  
Article 1: Definitions  
For the purpose of this Regulation:  
Authority: the Authority of Heads of States and Government of member States of the Community 
created by article 7 of the ECOWAS Revised  Treaty;  
ECOWAS means the Economic Community of We st African States, the creation  of which was 
reaffirmed by Article 2 of the Revise d Treaty signed in Cotonou on 24 July 1993;  
Commission means the ECOWAS Commission created by article 17 of the ECOWAS Revised 
Treaty as amended by Supple mentary Protocol A/SP1/06/06 on  the amendment of the said treaty;  
Community means the Economic Communi ty of West African States, the creation of which was 
reaffirmed by article 2 of the Revised Treaty signed in Cotonou on 24 July 1993;  
Community Industry means all producers of identical, like or directly competing products 
operating within the territory of  the Community or producers whose collective productions of, like 
or directly competing products account for a major proportion  of the total community production of 
such products.  
Council: the Council of Min isters created by article 10 of the ECOWAS  Revise d Treaty as amended 
by Supplementary Protocol A/SP1/06/06;  
Member State: Member State of the Community;  
"Serious injury: means a signifi cant overall impairment in the position of an industry  within the 
Community."  
Third countries: countries o ther than Memb er States of the Community;  
"Threat of serious injury": means a serious injury that is clearly imminent based on facts and 
not merely on a llegation, conjecture or remote  possibility;  
Treaty: the Revised ECOWAS Treaty signed in Cotonou on 24th July 1993 and all its subsequent 
amendments.  
  G/SG/N/1/LBR/1  
 
- 4 - 
 
  Article 2:  Establishment and Objective of safeguard measures  
1. It is hereby established within ECOWAS safegu ard measures in the application  of the 
provisions of article 9 of Decision A/DEC17/10/06 adopting the ECOWAS Comm on External Tariff;  
2. The objective of the safeguard measures under paragraph 1 is to protect a specific 
community industry against increased imports of any product which is causing or threatening to 
cause a serious injury to the said  industry.  
Article 3:  Scope  
The scope of the safeguard measures shall cover imports of products originatin g from third 
countries for home  consumption within the Community.  
Article 4: Conditions for application  
These safeguard measures shall app ly if the following conditions exist:  
a. An increase in volume either in absolute figures or in relation to local production of a 
product similar to, or comp eting with the local production ; 
b. Existence of a serious injury or threat of serious injury due to the increase in imports;  
c. A causal l ink between the increase in imports and the  injury.  
Article 5:  Application of safeguard measures  
a. These safeguard measures shall be applicable on the Community territory as much as 
necessary, to prevent or remedy a serious injury and facilitate adjustment i n the 
industry concerned.  
b. The safeguard measures may be applied in the form of a quantitative restriction, or 
additional duty.  
c. The Community may apply a sa feguard measure referred to in paragraph 1 above as a 
single unit or on behalf of a member State.  
d. When the community applies a safeguard measure as a single unit, all the requirements 
for the determination of serious injury or threat thereof under this Regulation shall be 
based on the conditions existing in the Community as a whole.  
e. When a safeguard measu re is applied on behalf of a member State, all the requirements 
for the determination of serious inj ury or threat thereof shall be based on the conditions 
existing in that member State and the measure shall be limited to that member State.  
Article 6 : Asses sment and collection of revenue from Safeguard measures  
a. Where the safeguard measure takes the form of an additional duty, the said duty shall 
be based on the customs value of the product concerned.  
b. The procedure for assessment and collection of the revenue s from the safeguard 
measures shall be the same as in the case of the Community Levy (CL)  
Article 7 : Payment of Revenue  
Revenues from safeguard measures shall be paid into a special fund to be created by the Authority 
of Heads of States and Government  G/SG/N/1/LBR/1  
 
- 5 - 
 
  CHAPTER II: PROCEDURE FOR COMMUN ITY  
AND CONSULTATION  
Article 8: Information on Safeguard Measures  
Where trends in imports call for safeguard measures, any Member State can inform the 
Commission. Information transmitted by one of the Member States and whic h can warrant the 
application of saf eguard measures shall cover the  following:  
a. Imports, where such imports have significantly increased in volume either in absolute 
figures or in r elation to local production or consumption;  
b. The import value, especially in case of erratic fluctuations or significant drop compared 
to the value of an i dentical, similar or competing product;  
c. The consequent impact for producers of the Community as reflected in the following 
elements:  
- Production;  
- Capacity utilisatio n; 
- Stocks;  
- Sales;  
- Market share;  
- Price and inflexibility re lated to the increase in prices;  
- Profits ; 
- Returns on invested capital;  
- Liquidity flow;  
- Employment.  
d. Factors other than trends in imports which are causing or are likely to cause injury to 
community producers concerned.  
Article 9 : Creation of National Committee  
In this regard, a national committee to be created by the Council of Ministers through a regulation 
shall receive the dossier from the industry concerned.  
Article 10: Supplementary Measures  
When a threat of serious inju ry is observed, the Commission shall examine whether it  is clearly 
foreseeable that such a threat is likely to develop into a real injury. In this regard, the Commission 
shall also t ake into account elements such as: 
a. The rate of increase in exports to the Community ;  
b. The export capacity of the country of origin or ex port as it stands or is likely  to be in the 
foreseeable future and the likelihood that exports generated by this capacity shall be 
used for exports to the c ommunity.  
Article 11: Transmission to Member States  
The Commission shall transmit the informatio n referred to in article 9 and 1O to Member States.  
 G/SG/N/1/LBR/1  
 
- 6 - 
 
  CHAPTER III: INVESTIGATION PROCED URE 
Article 12:  
a. Prior to the application of any safeguard measure, the Commission shall inform Member 
States of the initiation of an investigation procedure.  
b. The Commission, shall inform within a reasonable time, all interested parties in each 
Member State, particularly producers, importers and exporters and shall gather thei r 
views on the application of a safeguard measure.  
c. The C ET Management Committee shall be consulted before the implementation of all 
safeguard measures imposed pursuant to t his Regulation. In this regard the Commission 
shall prepare a report which shall  be submitted to the C ET Management Committee for 
their opinion.  
Article 13: Confidentiality  
a. Information received by the Commission or gathered from the investigation procedure 
shall be confidential.  
b. However, when the need arises, Member States and interested parties that have 
provided confidential information may be requested to furnish a non -confidential 
summary thereof.  
Article 14:  Publication of Notice  
a. Where it appears, based on its appreciation of information provided pursuant to article  9, 
that there is sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of an investigation, the 
Commission shall proceed as follows:  
The Commission shall publish a Notice informing M ember States of the initiation of an 
investigation within 45 days of receiving the information. The  Notice shall contain a 
summary of the information received and shall request Member States to gather from 
the interested parties all the information and opinions and to transmit them in writing to 
the Commission. The notice shall also set the time frames within which such information 
must be transmitted to the Commission as well as modalities for cooperation between 
Member States and the Commission during the investigation.  
b. The Commission may directly verify the information and hear any interested party.  
Article 15: Report of Investigation  
a. At the end of the in vestigation under article 14 of this Regulation, the Commission shall 
prepare a report to the CET Management Committee  for advice.  
b. Where within twelve (12) months of the initiation of the investigation , the Commission 
consid ers that a community safeguard measure is not  necessary, the investigation shall 
be terminated after consultation with the CET Management Committee.  
c. The decision to terminate the investigation must include an outline of findings of t he 
investigation and a summary of the reason s behind such a decision which shall be 
published.  
d. If a community safeguard measure is neces sary, the Council of Ministers shall take the 
necessary decisions within a time frame that cannot exceed twelve (12) mon ths starting 
from the initiation of the investigation after consulting the CET Management Committee.  
e. All decisions referred to in this article to terminate the investigation shall be taken based 
on the report stated in article 14 of this Regulation.  G/SG/N/1/LBR/1  
 
- 7 - 
 
  CHAPTE R IV: IMPLEMENTATION OF SA FEGUARD MEASURES  
Article 16: Provisional safeguard measures  
a. Under critical circumstances where any delay may cause an irreversible or irremediable 
injury, the Council of Ministers shall take provisional safeguard measure after it had 
been determined on preliminary basis that there is clear evidence suggesting that an 
increase in import has caused or is threatening to cause a serious injury.  
b. The provisional safeguard measure shall be applied during a period not exceeding 
200 days. S uch measures shall take the form of an increase in customs duties which 
shall be refunded if, after the investigation, the injury or threat of injury is not 
established.  
Article 17: Duration and review of safeguard measures  
a. With the exception of cases defi ned in  article 16 above, a safeguard measure shall apply 
only during a period necessary to prevent or remedy a serious injury and facilitate 
adjustment on the pa rt of the Community producers. This period shall not exceed four 
years.  
b. Where at the end of thi s period, it is proven that the safeguard is still necessary  to 
prevent or remedy an injury, the initial imposition period may be extended by a 
maximum period of six (6) years.  
c. The extension measures shall be adopted unde r the conditions stipulated in articles 9 
to 17 of this  Regulation. Any measure whose duration shall be  extended cannot be more 
restrictive than wha t it was at end of the initial period.  
Article 18: Consultation by the Commission  
a. During the application of a safeguard measure, the Commis sion shall on its own initiative 
or that of a Member Sta te initiate consultations with the Member  States. With the 
exception of provisional safeguard measures, these consultations shall be held at the 
latest by the middle of the application period of the m easure.  
b. Pursuant to these con sultations, the CET Management Committee shall:  
- Assess the effects of the measure;  
- Examine the rationale for maintaining, amending   or extending  the measure;  
- advise on liberalisati on measures as  well as the implementatio n conditions.  
c. The safeguard measures shall be amended or repealed, subject to the same conditions 
under which they were enacted.  
Article 19: New Safeguard Measure  
a. A new safeguard measure may be applied to the import of a product that had already 
been subje ct to such a measure after a period equal to half of that during which this 
measure has been previously applied, provided that the period of non  application is at 
least two (2) years.  
b. The provisions of this article shall be appl ied to measures taken under the provision of 
article 16 of this Regulation.  G/SG/N/1/LBR/1  
 
- 8 - 
 
  CHAPTER V:  FINAL PROVISIONS  
Article 20: Submission of Annual Report  
a. The Commission shall submit to the Council of Mi nisters on an annual basis a report on 
the application of safeguard measures.   
b. The Commission shall transm it the necessary notifications through the appropriate 
channels to the WTO Committee on Safeguards.  
Article 21: Entry Into Force and Publication  
This Regulation shall be published by the Commission in the official journal of the community 
within thirty (30) days of its signature by the President of the Council of Ministers. It shall equally 
be published by each mem ber state in her official journal thirty (30) days after notification by the 
Commission.  
DONE AT ABIDJAN THIS 21ST DAY OF JUNE 2013  
H.E. CHARLES KOFFI DIBY  
CHAIRMAN  
FOR COUNCIL  
 
__________