Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 4 U.K. Exercise of the Union's rights

1. Where action is necessary to safeguard the Union's interests in the cases referred to in Article 3, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts determining the appropriate commercial policy measures. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 8(2).

2. Implementing acts adopted pursuant to paragraph 1 shall meet the following conditions:

(a) where concessions or other obligations are suspended following the adjudication of a trade dispute under the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding, their level shall not exceed the level authorised by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body;

(b) where concessions or other obligations are suspended following the discharge of an international dispute settlement procedure under other international trade agreements, including regional or bilateral agreements, their level shall not exceed the level of nullification or impairment as a result of the third country measure concerned, as determined by the Commission or through recourse to arbitration, as the case may be;

(c) in the case of rebalancing of concessions or other obligations under provisions on safeguards in international trade agreements, the Union's action shall be substantially equivalent to the level of concessions or other obligations affected by the safeguard measure, in accordance with the conditions of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards or of the provisions on safeguards in other international trade agreements, including regional or bilateral agreements, under which the safeguard measure is applied;

(d) where concessions are withdrawn in the trade with a third country in connection with Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994 and the related Understanding(1), they shall be substantially equivalent to the concessions modified or withdrawn by that third country, in accordance with the terms established in Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994 and the related Understanding.

3. Commercial policy measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall be determined on the basis of the following criteria, in light of available information and of the Union's general interest:

(a) effectiveness of the measures in inducing compliance of third countries with international trade rules;

(b) potential of the measures to provide relief to economic operators within the Union affected by third country measures;

(c) availability of alternative sources of supply for the goods or services concerned, in order to avoid or minimise any negative impact on downstream industries, contracting authorities or entities, or final consumers within the Union;

(d) avoidance of disproportionate administrative complexity and costs in the application of the measures;

(e) any specific criteria that may be established in international trade agreements in connection with the cases referred to in Article 3.

(1)

Understanding "Interpretation and Application of Article XXVIII".