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The products referred to in paragraph 1 shall be freely imported into the Community and accordingly, without prejudice to the safeguard measures which may be taken under Chapter V, shall not be subject to any quantitative restrictions.

Consultations shall take place within eight working days of the Commission receiving the information provided for in Article 2 and, in any event, before the introduction of any Community surveillance or safeguard measure.

The Committee shall meet when convened by its chairman. He shall provide the Member States with all relevant information as promptly as possible.

Consultations shall cover in particular:

terms and conditions of import, import trends and the various aspects of the economic and commercial situation with regard to the product in question;

the measures, if any, to be taken.

Consultations may be conducted in writing if necessary. The Commission shall in this event inform the Member States, which may express their opinion or request oral consultations within a period of five to eight working days, to be decided by the Commission.

Using as a basis the factors referred to in Article 10, the investigation shall seek to determine whether imports of the product in question are causing or threatening to cause serious injury to the Community producers concerned.

The following definitions shall apply:

‘serious injury’ means a significant overall impairment in the position of Community producers;

‘threat of serious injury’ means serious injury that is clearly imminent;

‘Community producers’ means the producers as a whole of the like or directly competing products operating within the territory of the Community, or those whose collective output of the like or directly competing products constitutes a major proportion of the total Community production of those products.

The Commission shall seek all information it deems to be necessary and, where it considers it appropriate, after consulting the Committee, endeavour to check this information with importers, traders, agents, producers, trade associations and organisations.
The Commission shall be assisted in this task by staff of the Member State on whose territory these checks are being carried out, provided that Member State so wishes.

The Member States shall supply the Commission, at its request and following procedures laid down by it, with the information at their disposal on developments in the market of the product being investigated.

Interested parties which have come forward pursuant to the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 and representatives of the exporting country may, upon written request, inspect all information made available to the Commission in connection with the investigation other than internal documents prepared by the authorities of the Community or its Member States, provided that that information is relevant to the presentation of their case and not confidential within the meaning of Article 9 and that it is used by the Commission in the investigation.
Interested parties which have come forward may communicate their views on the information in question to the Commission. Those views may be taken into consideration where they are backed by sufficient evidence.

The Commission may hear the interested parties. Such parties must be heard where they have made a written application within the period laid down in the notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union , showing that they are actually likely to be affected by the outcome of the investigation and that there are special reasons for them to be heard orally. Official Journal of the European Union

When information is not supplied within the time limits set by this Regulation or by the Commission pursuant to this Regulation, or the investigation is significantly impeded, findings may be made on the basis of the facts available. Where the Commission finds that any interested party or third party has supplied it with false or misleading information, it shall disregard the information and may make use of facts available.

Where it appears to the Commission, after the consultations referred to in Articles 3 and 4, that there is insufficient evidence to justify an investigation, it shall inform the Member States of its decision within one month of receipt of the information from the Member States.

Where the Commission considers, within nine months of the initiation of the investigation, that no Community surveillance or safeguard measures are necessary, the investigation shall be terminated within a month, the Committee having first been consulted.
The decision to terminate the investigation, stating the main conclusions of the investigation and a summary of the reasons therefore, shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union . Official Journal of the European Union

If the Commission considers that Community surveillance or safeguard measures are necessary, it shall take the necessary decisions in accordance with Chapters IV and V, no later than nine months from the initiation of the investigation. In exceptional circumstances, this time limit may be extended by a further maximum period of two months; the Commission shall then publish a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union setting forth the duration of the extension and a summary of the reasons therefore. Official Journal of the European Union

Provisional safeguard measures shall take the form of an increase in the existing level of customs duty, whether the latter is zero or higher, if such action is likely to prevent or repair the serious injury.

The Commission shall immediately conduct whatever investigation measures are still necessary.

Should the provisional safeguard measures be repealed because no serious injury or threat of serious injury exists, the customs duties collected as a result of the provisional measures shall be automatically refunded as soon as possible. The procedure laid down in Article 235 et seq. of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code ( 5 ) shall apply.

Neither the Council, nor the Commission, nor the Member States, nor the officials of any of these shall reveal any information of a confidential nature received pursuant to this Regulation, or any information provided on a confidential basis without specific permission from the supplier of such information.

Each request for confidentiality shall state the reasons why the information is confidential.
However, if it appears that a request for confidentiality is unjustified and if the supplier of the information wishes neither to make it public nor to authorise its disclosure in general terms or in the form of a summary, the information concerned may be disregarded.

Information shall in any case be considered to be confidential if its disclosure is likely to have a significantly adverse effect upon the supplier or the source of such information.

Paragraphs 1 to 4 shall not preclude reference by the Community authorities to general information and in particular to reasons on which decisions taken pursuant to this Regulation are based. Those authorities shall, however, take into account the legitimate interest of legal and natural persons concerned that their business secrets should not be divulged.

Where a threat of serious injury is alleged, the Commission shall also examine whether it is clearly foreseeable that a particular situation is likely to develop into actual injury.
In this regard account may be taken of factors such as:

the rate of increase of the exports to the Community;

export capacity in the country of origin or export, as it stands or is likely to be in the foreseeable future, and the likelihood that that capacity will be used to export to the Community.

The decision to impose surveillance shall be taken by the Commission according to the procedure laid down in the second subparagraph of Article 16(6) and Article 16(7).

The surveillance measures shall have a limited period of validity. Unless otherwise provided, they shall cease to be valid at the end of the second six-month period following the six months in which the measures were introduced.

The surveillance document shall be made out on a form corresponding to the model in Annex I.
Except where the decision to impose surveillance provides otherwise, the importer’s application for surveillance documents shall contain only the following:

the full name and address of the applicant (including telephone and fax numbers and any number identifying the applicant to the competent national authority), plus the applicant’s VAT registration number if he is liable for VAT;

where appropriate, the full name and address of the declarant or of any representative appointed by the applicant (including telephone and fax numbers);

a description of the goods giving:

their trade name,

their combined nomenclature code,

their place of origin and place of consignment;

the quantity declared, in kilograms and, where appropriate, any other additional unit (pairs, items, etc.);

the value of the goods, cif at Community frontier, in euro;

the following statement, dated and signed by the applicant, with the applicant’s name spelt out in capital letters: ‘I, the undersigned, certify that the information provided in this application is true and given in good faith, and that I am established in the Community.’

The surveillance document shall be valid throughout the Community, regardless of the Member State of issue.

A finding that the unit price at which the transaction is effected exceeds that indicated in the surveillance document by less than 5 % or that the total value or quantity of the products presented for import exceeds the value or quantity given in the surveillance document by less than 5 % shall not preclude the release for free circulation of the product in question. The Commission, having heard the opinions expressed in the Committee and taking account of the nature of the products and other special features of the transactions concerned, may fix a different percentage, which, however, should not normally exceed 10 %.

Surveillance documents may be used only for such time as arrangements for liberalisation of imports remain in force in respect of the transactions concerned. Such surveillance documents may not in any event be used beyond the expiry of a period which shall be laid down at the same time and by means of the same procedure as the imposition of surveillance, and shall take account of the nature of the products and other special features of the transactions.

Where the decision taken pursuant to Article 11 so requires, the origin of products under Community surveillance must be proved by a certificate of origin. This paragraph shall not affect other provisions concerning the production of any such certificate.

Where the product under prior Community surveillance is subject to regional safeguard measures in a Member State, the import authorisation granted by that Member State may replace the surveillance document.

Surveillance document forms and extracts thereof shall be drawn up in duplicate, one copy, marked ‘Holder’s copy’ and bearing the number 1, to be issued to the applicant, and the other, marked ‘Copy for the competent authority’ and bearing the number 2, to be kept by the authority issuing the document. For administrative purposes the competent authority may add supplementary copies to form 2.

Forms shall be printed on white paper free of mechanical pulp, dressed for writing and weighing between 55 g and 65 g per square metre. Their size shall be 210 mm × 297 mm; the type space between the lines shall be 4,24 mm (one sixth of an inch); the layout of the forms shall be followed precisely. Both sides of copy No 1, which is the surveillance document itself, shall in addition have a yellow printed guilloche pattern background so as to reveal any falsification by mechanical or chemical means.

Member States shall be responsible for having the forms printed. The forms may also be printed by printers appointed by the Member State in which they are established. In the latter case, reference to the appointment by the Member State must appear on each form. Each form shall bear an indication of the printer’s name and address or a mark enabling the printer to be identified.

Article 12(2) shall apply.

Where the nature of the products or special circumstances so require, the Commission may, at the request of a Member State or on its own initiative, amend the timetables for submitting this information.

The Commission shall inform the Member States accordingly.

As regards members of the WTO, the measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall be taken only when the two conditions indicated in the first subparagraph of that paragraph are met.

If establishing a quota, account shall be taken in particular of:

the desirability of maintaining, as far as possible, traditional trade flows;

the volume of goods exported under contracts concluded on normal terms and conditions before the entry into force of a safeguard measure within the meaning of this Chapter, where such contracts have been notified to the Commission by the Member State concerned;

the need to avoid jeopardising achievement of the aim pursued in establishing the quota.

Any quota shall not be set lower than the average level of imports over the last three representative years for which statistics are available unless a different level is necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury.

In cases in which a quota is allocated among supplier countries, allocation may be agreed with those of them having a substantial interest in supplying the product concerned for import into the Community.
Failing this, the quota shall be allocated among the supplier countries in proportion to their share of imports into the Community of the product concerned during a previous representative period, due account being taken of any specific factors which may have affected or may be affecting the trade in the product.
Provided that its obligation to see that consultations are conducted under the auspices of the WTO Committee on Safeguards is not disregarded, the Community may nevertheless depart from this method of allocation in the case of serious injury if imports originating in one or more supplier countries have increased in disproportionate percentage in relation to the total increase of imports of the product concerned over a previous representative period.

The measures referred to in this Article shall apply to every product which is put into free circulation after their entry into force. In accordance with Article 18 they may be confined to one or more regions of the Community.
However, such measures shall not prevent the release for free circulation of products already on their way to the Community provided that the destination of such products cannot be changed and that those products which, pursuant to Articles 11 and 12, may be put into free circulation only on production of a surveillance document are in fact accompanied by such a document.

Where intervention by the Commission has been requested by a Member State, the Commission shall take a decision within a maximum of five working days of receipt of such a request.
Any decision taken by the Commission pursuant to this Article shall be communicated to the Council and to the Member States. Any Member State may, within one month following the day of such communication, refer the decision to the Council.

If a Member State refers the Commission’s decision to the Council, the Council, acting by a qualified majority, may confirm, amend or revoke that decision.
If, within three months of the referral of the matter to the Council, the Council has not taken a decision, the decision taken by the Commission shall be deemed revoked.

Such initial period may be extended, except in the case of the measures referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 16(4) provided it is determined that:

the safeguard measure continues to be necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury;

there is evidence that Community producers are adjusting.

Extensions shall be adopted in accordance with the terms of Chapter III and using the same procedures as the initial measures. A measure so extended shall not be more restrictive than it was at the end of the initial period.

If the duration of the measure exceeds one year, the measure must be progressively liberalised at regular intervals during the period of application, including the period of extension.

The total period of application of a safeguard measure, including the period of application of any provisional measures, the initial period of application and any prorogation thereof, may not exceed eight years.

Where, as a result of the consultations referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission considers that any surveillance or safeguard measure referred to in Articles 11, 13, 16, 17 and 18 should be revoked or amended, it shall proceed as follows:

where the measure was enacted by the Council, the Commission shall propose to the Council that it be revoked or amended. The Council shall act by a qualified majority;

in all other cases, the Commission shall amend or revoke Community safeguard and surveillance measures.

Where the decision relates to regional surveillance measures, it shall apply from the sixth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . Official Journal of the European Union

Notwithstanding paragraph 1, a safeguard measure of 180 days or less may be re-imposed for a product if:

at least one year has elapsed since the date of introduction of a safeguard measure on the import of that product; and

such a safeguard measure has not been applied to the same product more than twice in the five-year period immediately preceding the date of introduction of the measure.

Without prejudice to other Community provisions, this Regulation shall not preclude the adoption or application by Member States:
In the event of extreme urgency, the national measures or formalities in question shall be communicated to the Commission immediately upon their adoption.

of prohibitions, quantitative restrictions or surveillance measures on grounds of public morality, public policy or public security; the protection of health and life of humans, animals or plants, the protection of national treasures possessing artistic, historic or archaeological value, or the protection of industrial and commercial property;

of special formalities concerning foreign exchange;

of formalities introduced pursuant to international agreements in accordance with the Treaty.

The Member States shall inform the Commission of the measures or formalities they intend to introduce or amend in accordance with the first subparagraph.

In the case of products covered by the instruments referred to in paragraph 1, Articles 11 to 15 and Article 22 shall not apply to those in respect of which the Community rules on trade with third countries require the production of a licence or other import document.
Articles 16, 16 a16 a16 a18 1621ype='articles' class='internal-link article' href='#art_24' data-bs-toggle='popover' data-bs-trigger='hover focus' data-bs-content='This Regulation shall not preclude the fulfilment of obligations arising from special rules contained in agreements concluded between the Community and third countries.' data-bs-placement='top' >24class='internal-link article' href='#art_11' data-bs-toggle='popover' data-bs-trigger='hover focus' data-bs-content='Where the trend in imports of a product originating in a third country covered by this Regulation threatens to cause injury to Community producers, and where the interests of the Community so require, import of that product may be subject, as appropriate, to:' data-bs-placement='top' >11 and 16articles' class='internal-link article' href='#art_11' data-bs-toggle='popover' data-bs-trigger='hover focus' data-bs-content='Where the trend in imports of a product originating in a third country covered by this Regulation threatens to cause injury to Community producers, and where the interests of the Community so require, import of that product may be subject, as appropriate, to:' data-bs-placement='top' >11 and 16articles' class='internal-link article' href='#art_11' data-bs-toggle='popover' data-bs-trigger='hover focus' data-bs-content='Where the trend in imports of a product originating in a third country covered by this Regulation threatens to cause injury to Community producers, and where the interests of the Community so require, import of that product may be subject, as appropriate, to:' data-bs-placement='top' >11 and 16 are met in one or more regions of the Community, the Commission, after having examined alternative solutions, may exceptionally authorise the application of surveillance or safeguard measures limited to the region(s) concerned if it considers that such measures applied at that level are more appropriate than measures applied ...' data-bs-placement='top' >18 1621ype='articles' class='internal-link article' href='#art_24' data-bs-toggle='popover' data-bs-trigger='hover focus' data-bs-content='This Regulation shall not preclude the fulfilment of obligations arising from special rules contained in agreements concluded between the Community and third countries.' data-bs-placement='top' >24class='internal-link article' href='#art_11' data-bs-toggle='popover' data-bs-trigger='hover focus' data-bs-content='Where the trend in imports of a product originating in a third country covered by this Regulation threatens to cause injury to Community producers, and where the interests of the Community so require, import of that product may be subject, as appropriate, to:' data-bs-placement='top' >11 and 16articles' class='internal-link article' href='#art_11' data-bs-toggle='popover' data-bs-trigger='hover focus' data-bs-content='Where the trend in imports of a product originating in a third country covered by this Regulation threatens to cause injury to Community producers, and where the interests of the Community so require, import of that product may be subject, as appropriate, to:' data-bs-placement='top' >11 and 16 are met in one or more regions of the Community, the Commission, after having examined alternative solutions, may exceptionally authorise the application of surveillance or safeguard measures limited to the region(s) concerned if it considers that such measures applied at that level are more appropriate than measures applied ...' data-bs-placement='top' >18 1621ype='articles' class='internal-link article' href='#art_24' data-bs-toggle='popover' data-bs-trigger='hover focus' data-bs-content='This Regulation shall not preclude the fulfilment of obligations arising from special rules contained in agreements concluded between the Community and third countries.' data-bs-placement='top' >24class='internal-link article' href='#art_11' data-bs-toggle='popover' data-bs-trigger='hover focus' data-bs-content='Where the trend in imports of a product originating in a third country covered by this Regulation threatens to cause injury to Community producers, and where the interests of the Community so require, import of that product may be subject, as appropriate, to:' data-bs-placement='top' >11 and 16 are met in one or more regions of the Community, the Commission, after having examined alternative solutions, may exceptionally authorise the application of surveillance or safeguard measures limited to the region(s) concerned if it considers that such measures applied at that level are more appropriate than measures applied ...' data-bs-placement='top' >18 and 21 to 24 shall not apply to those products in respect of which such rules provide for the application of quantitative import restrictions.

ATTRIBUTIONS
Indicate the quantity available in part 1 of column 17 and the quantity attributed in part 2 thereof
Net quantity (net mass or other unit of measure stating the unit)
Customs document (form and number) or extract No and date of attribution
Name, Member State, stamp and signature of the attributing authority
In figures
In words for the quantity attributed














Extension pages to be attached hereto.

2
Copy for the competent authority
2
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
SURVEILLANCE DOCUMENT
Consignee
(name, full address, country, VAT number)
Issue number
Proposed place and date of import
Authority responsible for issue
(name, address and telephone No)
Declarant/representative as applicable
(name and full address)
Country of origin
(and geonomenclature code)
Country of consignment
(and geonomenclature code)
Last day of validity
Description of goods
CN code and category
Quantity in kilograms (net mass) or in additional sets
Value in euro, cif at Community frontier
Additional remarks
Competent authority's endorsement
Date: …
Signature: …
(Stamp)

ATTRIBUTIONS
Indicate the quantity available in part 1 of column 17 and the quantity attributed in part 2 thereof
Net quantity (net mass or other unit of measure stating the unit)
Customs document (form and number) or extract No and date of attribution
Name, Member State, stamp and signature of the attributing authority
In figures
In words for the quantity attributed














Extension pages to be attached hereto.

Only Article 1 and Annex I

Only Article 1(3) and Annex III

Only Article 1(3) and Annex III

Only Article 2

This Regulation

Chapter I

Article 1

Chapter II

Articles 2, 3 and 4

Chapter III

Article 5

Article 6(1), first subparagraph, introductory sentence, initial wording

Article 6(1), first subparagraph, introductory sentence, final wording and points (a), (b) and (c)

Article 6(1) second subparagraph

Article 6(2) first and second subparagraphs

Article 6(4) first and second subparagraphs

Article 6(3)

Article 6(5)

Article 6(6)

Article 6(7)

Article 7(1)

Article 7(2) first subparagraph

Article 7(2) second subparagraph

Article 7(3)

Article 8(1) first subparagraph

Article 8(1) second subparagraph, introductory words

Article 8(1) second subparagraph, points (a) and (b)

Article 8(1) third subparagraph

Article 8(2)

Article 8(3)

Article 8(4)

Article 9(1)

Article 9(2)

Article 9(3) first subparagraph

Article 9(3) second subparagraph

Article 9(4)

Article 9(5)

Article 10(1)

Article 10(2) first subparagraph

Article 10(2) second subparagraph, introductory words

Article 10(2) second subparagraph, points (a) and (b)

Chapter IV

Articles 11 to 15

Chapter V

Article 16(1) and (2)

Article 16(3) first subparagraph, introductory sentence

Article 16(3) first subparagraph, points (a), (b) and (c)

Article 16(3) second subparagraph

Article 16(4) first subparagraph

Article 16(4) second subparagraph

Article 16(4) third subparagraph

Article 16(5) first subparagraph

Article 16(5) second subparagraph

Article 16(6) first subparagraph

Article 16(6) second subparagraph

Article 16(7)

Articles 17 to 19

Article 20(1)

Article 20(2), introductory sentence

Article 20(2)(a) and (b)

Article 20(3) to (5)

Articles 21 and 22

Chapter VI

Article 23

Article 24(1)

Article 24(2) first subparagraph, introductory sentence

Article 24(2) first subparagraph, points (a) to (c)

Article 24(2) second subparagraph

Article 24(2) third subparagraph

Article 25

—

—

Article 26

Article 27

Annex I

Annex II

Annex III