G/SG/Q1/EU/2  
 
16 October 2015  
(15-5428)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Safeguards  Original: English  
 
 NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER 
ARTICLE 12.6 OF THE AGREEMENT 
REPLIES TO QUESTIONS1 POSED BY THE UNITED STATES REGARDING 
THE NOTIFICATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION2 
The following communication, dated 1 October 2015, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the European Union. 
 
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The United States thanks the European Union for the notification of the Regulation (EU) 2015/478 
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2015 on common rules for imports (codification) dated 9 June 2015 and poses the following questions: 
 
Question 1  
Paragraph (7) of the introduction to the Regu lation states "{t}he Commission should be 
informed by the Member States of any danger  created by trends in imports which might 
call for Union surveillance or the applicat ion of safeguard measures". Could the EU 
please clarify the following: 
 
a. What is the process by which interested parties notify the Member States of a 
desire for surveillance or  for safeguard measures? 
b. If a Member State declines to express an interested party's desire for surveillance 
or for the initiation of a safeguard proceeding to the Commission, does the interested party have any recourse to re quest surveillance or the initiation of a 
safeguard proceeding directly to the Commission? 
c. What steps do Member States take to veri fy the accuracy of information submitted 
by interested parties prior to presenti ng that information to the Commission? 
d. Can Member States, on their own initiati ve, request surveillance or a safeguard 
proceeding from the Commission? If so, wh at information are the Member States 
requested to submit to the Commission? 
e. Does the party requesting surveillance need to demonstrate the degree to which 
the appropriate domestic industry support s the request? If so, how will this be 
determined?  
 
Reply: 
 
In the European Union's system, only Member Stat es have the right to submit information showing 
that imports appear to call for surveillanc e or safeguard measures. While the European 
Commission also has the right to initiate such proceedings "ex officio" (i.e. on its own initiative), 
other economic operators, however, cannot directly request safeguard or surveillance proceedings.  
When the initiation has been requested by a Member State, it is the European Commission's role 
to determine whether the information submitted by this Member State is sufficient for initiation, including its prima-facie accuracy of the inform ation and the degree of support by the domestic 
                                               
1 G/SG/Q1/EU/1. 
2 G/SG/N/1/EU/2 (dated 12 June 2015). G/SG/Q1/EU/2 
 
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  producers. All preceding steps remain at the discretion of the Member State (e.g. receiving 
industry's complaints, assessing its economic importance, etc.).   Question 2 
 
Paragraph (14) of the introduction to th e Regulation states "{a}n investigation should  
precede the application of any safeguard meas ure, subject to the reservation that the 
Commission be allowed in urgent cases to  apply provisional measures" (emphasis 
added). Please explain the circumstances under which a measure could be imposed 
without a preceding investigation, other than the noted exception for provisional 
measures?  
 
Reply: 
 
Article 4(1) of the Regulation clearly stipulat es and any safeguard measure should always be 
preceded by an investigation and that the application of provisional measures is the only exception to that rule. 
 
Question 3  Please clarify, with regard to Article 3(5) of the Regulation, whether the referenced 
time-limit will be a set time-limit for ever y proceeding or whether this time limit may 
vary for different proceedings. How will the Commission inform interested parties of the 
time limits envisioned under this Article? 
 
Reply: 
 
Article 3(5) of the Regulation only concerns the internal decision mechanism procedure which has 
to be applied, in order to ensure that a decision can be taken within the legal deadlines of the investigation set out in Article 6. These time limits are decided on a case by case basis.   
Question 4 
 Article 5(1) of the Regulation states "{t}he  Commission shall provide information to the 
Member States concerning its analysis of th e information normally within 21 days of the 
date on which the information is provided to the Commission". Will the analysis be placed on the record of the proceeding? Will interested parties be able to review and 
comment on such analysis during the ongoing safeguard proceeding? 
 Reply : 
 
The results of the analysis referred to in this article are the basis for the Notice of Initiation of the 
investigation which has to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Notice of Initiation is also placed in the open file and all interested parties to the investigation have the right 
to comment on the initiation. 
 Question 5 
 
Article 5(5) of the Regulation states "{ t}he Commission may hear the interested 
parties". However, no additional information is provided on hearin gs held during the 
course of a safeguard proceeding. Co uld the Commission please clarify: 
 
a. Will public hearings be held for ever y safeguard proceeding or only when 
requested? 
b. For any information presented orally, will in terested parties be required to submit 
that information in written form as well for inclusion in the public file of the 
proceeding and for consideration by the administering authority? 
c. Does the Commission have the ability to deny interested parties the ability to 
present information orally?  
 G/SG/Q1/EU/2 
 
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  Reply: 
 
It is the European Commission's long established practice to hear interested parties individually upon their request. Some interested parties may also agree between themselves to have a joint 
hearing with the European Commission. The European Commission does normally not hold public 
hearings.  
Interested parties are requested to provide in writing the information that has been presented 
orally during the hearing. A non-confidential version of this information is made available for consultation by the other interested parties.  
The European Commission has the ability to deny interested parties the possibility to present 
information orally if, for example, the procedures and time limits set out in the notice of initiation are not respected. 
 
Question 6  
Article 5(6) of the Regulation states "{w}he re the Commission finds that any interested 
party or third party has supplied it with fa lse or misleading information, it shall 
disregard that information and may make use of facts available". Please confirm that 
these "facts available" must also be ma de available for review and comment by 
interested parties. 
 Reply: 
 The European Commission always ensures an adequate  right of defence to all interested parties in 
its investigations, including the possibility to review and comment both on the intention to make 
use of facts available and on any subsequent use of facts available.  
 Question 7  
Article 10(1)(a) of the Regulation discusse s retrospective Union surveillance. Please 
clarify how such retrospectiv e surveillance will be carried out and how the retrospective 
surveillance may differ from imposing new surveillance. 
 
Reply: 
 
Retrospective surveillance requires a transmission of import data to the European Commission by 
each Member States shortly after actual importation has taken place, as opposed to prior surveillance which is a system based on the issuance of import licences aiming at obtaining information before importation.  
 
Question 8  
Article 14(1)(b) of the Regulation states "{d}i fferent provisions may be laid down at the 
same time and by the same procedure as th e surveillance arrangements". Please clarify 
the nature of these "different provisions" an d their intended impact of a surveillance or 
safeguard proceeding. 
 Reply : 
 
Article 14 refers to surveillance measures only. The last sentence of Article 14(1) foresees the 
possibility to adopt any additional provisions that may be necessary to improve the efficiency and adequacy of the surveillance measures. 
 
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