1. This Regulation lays down provisions for the implementation of the safeguard clause and the anti-circumvention mechanism provided for in the Agreement.

2. This Regulation applies to products originating in the Republic of Moldova.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

(1) ‘product’ means a good originating in the Union or in the Republic of Moldova; a product subject to an investigation may cover one or several tariff lines or a sub-segment thereof depending on the specific market circumstances, or any product segmentation commonly applied in Union industry;

(2) ‘interested parties’ means parties affected by the imports of the product in question;

(3) ‘Union industry’ means the Union producers as a whole of the like or directly competitive products, operating within the territory of the Union, or Union producers whose collective output of the like or directly competitive products constitutes a major proportion of the total Union production of those products, or, where a like or a directly competitive product is only one of several products that are made by the Union producers, the Union industry is understood in relation to the specific operations that are involved in the production of the like or directly competitive product;

(4) ‘serious injury’ means, when referring to the position of Union industry, a significant overall impairment to it;

(5) ‘threat of serious injury’ means, when referring to the position of Union industry, a serious injury that is clearly imminent;

(6) ‘transitional period’ means a period of 10 years from the entry into force of the Agreement.

CHAPTER II

SAFEGUARD PROVISIONS

Article 3

Principles

1. A safeguard measure may be imposed in accordance with this Regulation where a product originating in the Republic of Moldova is, as a result of the reduction or the elimination of the customs duties on that product, imported into the Union in such increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to Union production, and under such conditions as to cause or threaten to cause serious injury to the Union industry.

2. A safeguard measure may take one of the following forms:

(a) a suspension of a further reduction in the rate of customs duty on the product concerned provided for in the Agreement;

(b) an increase in the rate of customs duty on the product concerned to a level which does not exceed the lesser of:

— the most-favoured-nation (MFN) applied rate of customs duty on the product concerned in effect at the time the measure is taken, or

— the base rate of customs duty as specified in the Schedules included in Annex XV pursuant to Article 147 of the Agreement.

Article 4

Initiation of proceedings

1. Proceedings shall be initiated by the Commission upon request by a Member State or by any legal person or any association not having legal personality acting on behalf of the Union industry, or on the Commission’s own initiative, if it is apparent to the Commission that there is sufficient

prima facie

evidence, as determined on the basis of the factors referred to in Article 5(5), to justify such initiation.