Chapter 12 describes the multiple notification requirements contained in the Agreement on Safeguards on domestic regulations on safeguard measures as well as on key aspects of specific safeguard actions. The chapter explains the consequences of these notifications and the specific actions that other Members may take to defend their commercial interest. It also discusses the question of the adequate opportunity to hold consultations under Article 12.3 of the agreement, and the question of cross-notifications to be made by third Members. The Chapter presents statistics on the use of safeguard investigations, safeguard measures and rebalancing actions in the light of the notifications made by WTO Members between 1995 and 2020.

Chapter 15 contains an explanation of the basic rules and procedures contained in Article XIX of the GATT 1994, in the light of the developed requirements and rules contained in the Agreement on Safeguards. It is a summary that places most of the provisions of the Agreement on Safeguards in perspective with Article XIX as the starting point of the multilateral regime on safeguard measures.

Chapter 16 contains a description of the main aspects of the negotiating history of Article XIX and the Agreement on Safeguards. It provides a summary of the main issues of contention during the negotiation of Article XIX of the GATT 1947, and how the proposals ended up in the final version of the provision in the GATT 1947. Chapter 16 also describes the process of negotiation leading to the establishment of the Agreement on Safeguards and the evolution of the different drafts up to the conclusion of the Uruguay Round. The chapter ends with a conclusion from the author on the manner in which the establishment of the safeguard regulatory system evolved.

Chapter 14 covers the provision on dispute settlement and consultations in the Agreement on Safeguards. This provision follows the general dispute settlement rules and procedures contained in the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding and Articles XXII and XXIII of the GATT 1994. It is technically the legal basis for the handling of disputes on the application of the Agreement on Safeguards. Chapter 14 explains how the dispute settlement process operates at its different stages and the usual issues that arise in the conduct of safeguard disputes. The chapter also provides statistics on the performance of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism in respect of safeguard investigations and safeguard measures. It provides practical considerations derived from the experience of the author as an active litigant in dispute settlement proceedings.

Chapter 3 explains the procedural guarantees established in the Agreement on Safeguards, including the transparency requirements of an initiation notice and a report setting forth the findings and conclusions, as well as due process guarantees for interested parties during the investigation, including the possibility of making submissions on the basis of public interest. The chapter also explains the complexities of the granting of confidential treatment to information provided by the interested parties, including the subsmission of non-confidential summaries.

Chapter 8 explains a process that is unique to the multilateral safeguard mechanism and that is sometimes misunderstood: the process of rebalancing. The chapter examines the conceptual questions that arise with the general notion of rebalancing as relating to a negotiation-derived consequence. It notes that the obligation of maintaining the balance of concessions informs the whole rebalancing exercise, in particular the consultations under Articles 8.1 and 12.3, the consideration of the means of compensation, and the notion of the withdrawal of substantially equivalent concessions and other obligations under the GATT 1994. The Chapter also explains the temporary suspension of the right to take rebalancing action under Article 8.2, and the natural tension that exists between the mandates of this provision and the conduct of dispute settlement proceedings under the DSU.

Chapter 13 provides an overview of the institutional framework provided by the Committee on Safeguards, and a description of its multiple functions. Some of these functions ensure that Members exert real surveillance over safeguard actions, and others provide a rather adjudicating function to the Committee, which may collide with the exclusive jurisdiction of the WTO dispute settlement system to adjudicate safeguard-related claims of infringement.

Chapter 11 prohibits the adoption of different sets of measures. It includes measures that are adopted without following the rules and procedures of the Agreement on Safeguards, measures that were categorized as grey-area measures, and other measures pursued under other provisions of the GATT and attempts to justify these under the Agreement on Safeguards. Article 11 further mandates the elimination of the grey-area measures pre-existing the WTO, and the discouragement of non-governmental practices having the effect of restricting trade flows.

Chapter 5 covers the general principles governing the application of a safeguard measure, including the principle of necessity in the establishment of the extent of the measure, the freedom enjoyed by Members in choosing the safeguard measure that they consider most suitable to achieve the goals of the measure, and the objective of facilitating the adjustment of the industry. The chapter presents the non-injurious price methodology for the establishment of safeguard measures on the basis of duties, and the concerns that arise in respect of the establishment of safeguards in the form of quotas. The chapter also discusses the question of the allocation of quotas among export-supplying Members, and the main deviation from the principle of non-discrimination contained in Article 5.2(b) of the Agreement on Safeguards. The chapter also addresses the question of the application of double trade remedies.

Chapter 1 explains the function of Article 1 as the threshold provision defining the applicability of the Agreement on Safeguards. It explains what safeguard measures are for purposes of WTO law.