Any investigation or temporary withdrawal procedure initiated and not terminated under Regulation (EC) No 732/2008 shall be reinitiated automatically under this Regulation, except in respect of a beneficiary country of the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance under that Regulation if the investigation concerns only the benefits granted under the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance. However, such investigation shall be reinitiated automatically if the same beneficiary country applies for the special incentive arrangement under this Regulation before 1 January 2015.

The information received in the course of an investigation initiated and not terminated under Regulation (EC) No 732/2008 shall be taken into account in any reinitiated investigation.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 20 November 2012.

However, the tariff preferences provided under the preferential arrangements referred to in Article 1(2) shall apply from 1 January 2014.

The scheme shall apply until 31 December 2023. However, the expiry date shall neither apply to the special arrangement for the least-developed countries, nor, to the extent that they are applied in conjunction with that arrangement, to any other provisions of this Regulation.