The notifications of new or amended legislation or regulations on safeguards were made by Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Japan, Viet Nam and Zambia.

Among the notifications on safeguard actions were reports from India that it had terminated investigations on the following products without imposing a measure: unwrought aluminium, aluminium waste and aluminium scraps; hot rolled coils/sheets/strips; coated paper and paper board; uncoated paper and copy paper; oxo-alcohols; particle board; linear alkyl benzene; and acrylic fibre.

The European Union welcomed the termination of these cases but expressed concern that the investigations had unduly led to uncertainty in the market. It urged India to refrain from unsubstantiated investigations in the future. The United States welcomed the termination of India's investigation on hot-rolled coils but shared the EU’s concerns. Canada said that in general, it was concerned by the high level of safeguard actions taken recently by members, adding that these actions should be taken only under special circumstances.

Also announcing the termination of safeguard investigations without any further action were: Brazil on CD-R and DVD-R; Chile on powdered milk and gouda cheese; the Dominican Republic on bottles, flasks and other glass containers; Peru on cotton yarn; Ukraine on liquid chlorine; and Viet Nam on float glass. Jordan and the Philippines reported the termination of existing safeguard measures on footwear and on glass mirrors, respectively.

A number of safeguard actions were the subject of complaints from affected members. The European Union expressed concern about Indonesia’s initiation of safeguard investigation on stranded wire, ropes and cables. Thailand reiterated its concerns on Philippines measures on float glass and figured glass. Egypt and the European Union questioned Jordan's measure on ceramic tiles. The European Union criticized Ukraine’s initiation of an investigation on ferro-manganese and ferro-silico-manganese.

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica expressed concern over the Dominican Republic’s current investigation and imposition of provisional safeguard duty (38 per cent ad valorem) on polypropylene bags and tubular fabric. They urged the Dominican Republic to terminate the investigation and refund the collected provisional duties. Costa Rica also expressed concern over a second investigation on toilet paper by the Dominican Republic.

Under “Other Business”, Ecuador said that it was initiating a safeguard investigation on imports of windshields. The United States expressed concern that the Gulf Cooperation Council’s initiations of safeguard investigation on coated paper and on steel angles and beams have not yet been notified to the WTO. Turkey confirmed to Egypt that it had revoked its safeguard measure on salt.

The Committee also discussed informally a proposal from Chinese Taipei regarding the time-frame for determining which developing countries are exempted from a particular safeguard action (Article 9.1 of the Safeguards Agreement). It was agreed that the incoming chair will continue informal meetings on this matter.

The Committee elected Mr Tobias Lorentzson of Sweden and Mr Do-yeon Won of Korea as its new chair and vice-chair, respectively.