According to these statistics, since 1 January 1995 and until 23 October 2006, a total of 155 safeguard investigations were initiated, and a total of 76 safeguard measures were imposed. These figures are far smaller compared to anti-dumping (2938 initiations and 1875 measures for the period 1 January 1995 — 30 June 2006) and relatively small compared to countervailing duty (183 initiations and 113 measures for the period 1 January 1995 — 30 June 2006).

The number of safeguard investigations newly initiated during the most recent period, 1 January — 23 October 2006, was 13. The number of new initiations of safeguard investigations peaked in 2002 at 34, and the figure has stayed low since then, with 15 initiations, 14 initiations, and 7 initiations in 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively.

The Member notifying the largest number of new initiations since 1995 was India, with 15 initiations. Chile and Jordan followed with 11 initiations each, and Turkey and the United States with 10 initiations each. The 13 initiations reported for the most recent period (1 January- 23 October 2006) were by Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, Jordan, Panama, the Philippines, Tunisia (2 initiations) and Turkey (5 initiations).

Concerning application of new final safeguard measures, during the period 1 January — 23 October 2006, 6 new measures (of which Turkey notified 4) have been imposed. This is basically in line with the recent level — 4 new measures in 2004 and 6 new measures in 2005. Since 1995, India reported the largest number of measures (8), followed by Chile, Turkey and the United States (6 measures each), followed by Jordan and the Philippines (5 measures each).

The most frequent subject of investigations since 1995 were chemical products (26 initiations), metals and metal products (21 initiations), foodstuffs (16 initiations), and ceramics and vegetables (14 initiations each). For the period 1 January — 23 October 2006, the products subject to newly notified investigations were electrical appliances (4 initiations), ceramics and footwear (2 initiations each) and animal products, mineral products, chemical, plastics and vehicles (1 initiation each).

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.

The data reported above are based on the notifications made by Members in accordance with Article 12.1 of the Agreement on Safeguards during the period specified, and does not include notifications of measures taken in accordance with Article 5 of the Agreement on Agriculture or Section 16 of the Protocol on the Accession of the People’s Republic of China.