On 23 April 2007 the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations for a free trade agreement with the Republic of Korea (‘Korea’) on behalf of the Union and its Member States.

It is necessary to lay down the procedures for applying certain provisions of the Agreement which concern safeguards.

The terms ‘serious injury’, ‘threat of serious injury’ and ‘transition period’ as referred to in Article 3.5 of the Agreement should be defined.

Safeguard measures may be considered only if the product in question is imported into the Union in such increased quantities and under such conditions as to cause, or threaten to cause, serious injury to Union producers of like or directly competitive products as laid down in Article 3.1 of the Agreement.

Safeguard measures should take one of the forms referred to in Article 3.1 of the Agreement.

The tasks of following up and reviewing the Agreement and, if necessary, imposing safeguard measures should be carried out in the most transparent manner possible.

The Commission should submit a report once a year on the implementation of the Agreement and the application of the safeguard measures.

There should be detailed provisions on the initiation of proceedings. The Commission should receive information including available evidence from the Member States of any trends in imports which might call for the application of safeguard measures.

The reliability of statistics on all imports from Korea to the Union is therefore crucial to determining whether the conditions to apply safeguard measures are met.

In some cases, an increase of imports concentrated in one or several Member States may cause or threaten to cause by itself serious injury to the Union industry. In the event that there is an increase of imports concentrated in one or several Member States, the Commission may introduce prior surveillance measures. The Commission will give full consideration to how the product subject to investigation, and consequently the Union industry producing the like product, can be defined in a manner which provides for an effective remedy, while fully respecting the criteria under this Regulation and the Agreement.

If there is sufficient prima facie evidence to justify the initiation of a proceeding the Commission should publish a notice as provided for in Article 3.2.2 of the Agreement in the Official Journal of the European Union.

There should be detailed provisions on the initiation of investigations, access and inspections by interested parties to the information gathered, hearings for the parties involved and the opportunities for those parties to submit their views as provided for in Article 3.2.2 of the Agreement.

The Commission should notify Korea in writing of the initiation of an investigation and consult with Korea as provided for in Article 3.2.1 of the Agreement.

It is also necessary, pursuant to Articles 3.2 and 3.3 of the Agreement, to set time limits for the initiation of investigations and for determinations as to whether or not measures are appropriate, with a view to ensuring that such determinations are made quickly, in order to increase legal certainty for the economic operators concerned.

An investigation should precede the application of any safeguard measure, subject to the Commission being allowed to apply provisional measures in critical circumstances as referred to in Article 3.3 of the Agreement.

Safeguard measures should be applied only to the extent, and for such time, as may be necessary to prevent serious injury and to facilitate adjustment. The maximum duration of safeguard measures should be determined and specific provisions regarding extension and review of such measures should be laid down, as referred to in Article 3.2.5 of the Agreement.

Close monitoring will facilitate any timely decision concerning the possible initiation of an investigation or the imposition of measures. Therefore the Commission should regularly monitor imports and exports in sensitive sectors from the date of application of the Agreement.

It is necessary to lay down certain procedures relating to the application of Article 14 (Drawback of, or Exemption from, Customs Duties) of the Protocol concerning the Definition of ‘Originating Products’ and Methods of Administrative Cooperation (‘the Rules of Origin Protocol’) of the Agreement in order to ensure the effective operation of the mechanisms provided for therein and to provide for a comprehensive exchange of information with relevant stakeholders.

Because it will not be possible to limit customs duty drawback until 5 years after the Agreement enters into force, it may be necessary, on the basis of this Regulation, to impose safeguard measures in response to a serious injury or threat of serious injury to Union producers that is caused by imports benefiting from duty drawback or exemption from customs duty. In such a proceeding the Commission should evaluate all relevant factors having a bearing on the situation of the Union industry, including the conditions set out in Article 14.2.1 of the Rules of Origin Protocol. Therefore the Commission should monitor Korean statistics for sensitive sectors potentially affected by duty drawback from the date of application of the Agreement.

From the date of application of the Agreement, the Commission should also monitor particularly closely, especially in sensitive sectors, the statistics showing the evolution of imports into and exports from Korea.

It is appropriate that the advisory procedure be used for the adoption of surveillance and provisional measures given the effects of these measures and their sequential logic in relation to the adoption of definitive safeguard measures. Where a delay in the imposition of measures would cause damage which would be difficult to repair it is necessary to allow the Commission to adopt immediately applicable provisional measures.

This Regulation should apply only to products originating in the Union or Korea,