(ADOPTED ON 27 OCTOBER 2025)

1  GENERAL

1.  The Committee on Safeguards ("Committee") performs the functions set out in Article 13 of the Agreement on Safeguards ("Agreement"). This report is submitted in accordance with Article 13.1(a) of the Agreement, which requires the Committee to report annually to the Council for Trade in Goods ("CTG") on the general implementation of the Agreement. The report covers the period 29 October 2024 – 27 October 2025 ("period under review").

2.  During the period under review, the Committee held two regular meetings on 28 April 2025 (_G/SG/M/66) and on 27 October 2025 (_G/SG/M/67). In addition, the Committee held two informal meetings on 11 March 2025 and 11 April 2025 regarding Indonesia's request made pursuant to Article 13.1 (e) of the Agreement.[1] The Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices, the Committee on Safeguards and the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures held a joint informal meeting on 29 September 2025 regarding the submission, quality and timeliness of notifications under the three Agreements.[2]

3.  Observer governments in the General Council of the WTO have observer status in the Committee. Pursuant to their Agreements with the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank have observer status in the Committee as well. UNCTAD has observer status through a Committee decision. At its regular meetings in 1998, the Committee decided to invite the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the OECD to attend Committee meetings on an ad hoc basis.

4.  As of the beginning of the review period, Mr Jun MORIKAWA (Japan) was Chair of the Committee. On 27 May 2025, the Council for Trade in Goods ("CTG") designated Ms Milagros MIRANDA ROJAS (Peru) as Chairperson of the Committee. As per the Committee's decision on 28 April 2025[3], a communication in this respect was sent to the Membership on 27 May 2025 and as no written objection was received, Ms Milagros MIRANDA ROJAS was elected as the Chairperson of the Committee on 3 June 2025.

2  notification and examination of safeguards laws and/or regulations of members

5.  Pursuant to Article 12.6 of the Agreement and the decision of the Committee in May 1996, all Members having laws, regulations and administrative procedures relating to safeguard measures are requested to notify the full and integrated texts thereof to the Committee. Changes in a Member's legislation and/or regulations are also to be notified. If a Member has no such legislation or regulations, the Member is to inform the Committee of this fact. The Committee also decided that Observer governments should comply with these notification obligations.

6.  During the period under review, the Committee continued its review of notifications under Article 12.6 of the Agreement concerning national legislation and/or regulations in the area of safeguards. Members that had notified the Committee of their safeguards legislation and/or regulations or made communications in this regard to the Committee are indicated in Annex 1. As of 27 October 2025, 77 Members[4] had notified their legislations, while 46 Members had notified that they had no such legislation. These notifications can be found in document series _G/SG/N/1/…. As of 27 October 2025, 16 Members had not made such a notification. The Chairperson reminded the Committee of the importance of such notifications.

7.  During the period under review, the Committee reviewed new notifications of legislation and/or regulations submitted by the following Members: Armenia, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, United States, and Viet Nam. At the April 2025 regular meeting, the Committee continued the review of the legislative notification from Ghana which had been previously reviewed by the Committee. In addition, pending written questions posed to the legislative notifications of the following Members remained on the agenda of the April 2025 regular meeting: Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia and Solomon Islands, while pending written questions posed to the legislative notifications of the following Members remained on the agenda of the October 2025 regular meeting: Liberia and Solomon Islands.

8.  The substance of the review of legislative notifications is reflected in written questions put to Members and written answers to those questions. Written questions and answers regarding legislative notifications can be found in document series _G/SG/Q1/….

3  notifications of actions related to safeguard measures

9.  During the period under review, the Committee received and reviewed a variety of notifications of actions related to safeguard measures. The notifications of initiations, the application of safeguard measures, and the termination of investigations without measures received by the Committee during the period under review are summarized in Annex 2. A record of investigations underway and measures applicable as of 27 October 2025 is set forth in Annex 3.

10.  Members' comments concerning these notifications can be found in the minutes of the meetings at which they were reviewed (_G/SG/M/66 and _G/SG/M/67). Members' written questions and answers concerning these notifications can be found in the _G/SG/Q2/… series.

4  training sessions on the functioning of the committee

11.  As part of the steps agreed on by Members to improve the functioning of the Committee (_G/SG/284), the Secretariat provided, during the review period, two training sessions on 14 February 2025  and 1 July 2025 on the functioning of the Committee. The audio recording/video of the training along with the presentations can be found on the Committee's webpage.

5  SOUTH AFRICA – CERTAIN FLAT-ROLLED PRODUCTS OF IRON, NON-ALLOY STEEL, OR OTHER ALLOY STEEL (NOT INCLUDING STAINLESS STEEL) (ITEM REQUESTED BY JAPAN)

12.  At the April 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, Japan raised concerns about South Africa's safeguard investigation relating to certain flat-rolled products. Japan questioned the basis on which a provisional safeguard measure had been imposed on the subject goods. Japan also queried the necessity of imposing the safeguard measure at hand on the subject goods, stating that most of the products covered by that measure had previously been subject to a safeguard measure a few years ago.[5]

6  UNITED STATES – CRYSTALLINE SILICON PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS (ITEM REQUESTED BY JAPAN)

13.  At the April 2025 and the October 2025 regular meetings of the Committee, Japan requested an early termination of this measure on account of changes in the market environment since the imposition of the measure.

7  VIET NAM - CERTAIN SEMI-FINISHED AND FINISHED PRODUCTS OF ALLOY AND NON‑ALLOY STEEL

14.  At the April 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, Japan raised concerns regarding Viet Nam's safeguard measure on certain semi-finished and finished products of alloy and non-alloy steel and pointed to its potential inconsistency with the relevant provisions of the GATT 1994. Japan also questioned the extension of the measure in 2023. Japan requested Viet Nam to correct the measure as soon as possible.

15.  At the October 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, Japan maintained its concerns regarding Viet Nam's safeguard measure on these products. Japan requested Viet Nam to consider an early termination of the measure. 

8  ARTICLE 13.1 (E) REQUEST BY INDONESIA

16.  At the April 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, the Chair confirmed that no Member had any more comments on the latest draft on this matter, and he stated that he would submit the document to the CTG under his own responsibility.[6]

9  E-AGENDA - REVIEW OF THE TRIAL PERIOD AS PER THE COMMITTEE'S DECISION CONTAINED IN DOCUMENT _G/ADP/33 – _G/SCM/166 – _G/SG/285

17.  In October 2023, the Committee took a decision contained in document _G/ADP/33 – _G/SCM/166 – _G/SG/285 to use certain features of the e-Agenda tool on a trial basis until the spring 2025 regular meeting of the Committee. The Committee also agreed that a review of this tool would take place at the spring 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, at which time Members would decide whether to extend the trial period further or adopt these e-Agenda features permanently or consider other possible features.

18.  The review was conducted at the April 2025 regular Committee meeting. The Committee agreed to maintain the current practice concerning the e-Agenda tool for an additional two-year period, specifically: (i) the uploading of Members' statements; and (ii) facilitating access to relevant meeting documents. It was agreed that this will be reviewed at the spring 2027 regular meeting of the Committee.[7]

10   COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE UNITED STATES IN RESPONSE TO CERTAIN REQUESTS FOR CONSULTATIONS AND PROPOSED SUSPENSIONS OF CONCESSIONS

19.  At the April 2025 and October 2025 regular meetings of the Committee, referring to certain requests for consultations notified by two Members, and certain proposed suspensions of concessions or other obligations notified by four Members, the United States explained that it did not consider the tariffs imposed by the US President referenced in these notifications, to be safeguard actions. The United States considered that no basis existed, therefore, for these Members to request consultations or propose the suspension of concessions under the Agreement with respect to the US measures.

11  PROPOSED SUSPENSION OF CONCESSIONS BY THE UNITED KINGDOM IN RESPECT OF MEASURES IMPOSED BY CANADA

20.  At the October 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, referring to its proposal to suspend concessions or other obligations under the Agreement, in respect of measures imposed by Canada on the importation of certain steel goods, the United Kingdom said that it considered that the measures are safeguard measures to which Article XIX of GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards are applicable.

12  INDONESIA – CARPETS AND OTHER TEXTILE FLOOR COVERINGS (ITEM REQUESTED BY JAPAN)

21.  At the October 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, Japan raised concerns regarding Indonesia's safeguard measures on carpets and other textile floor coverings. Japan also questioned the consistency of Indonesia's extension of the measures in August 2024 with the Agreement.

13  SECRETARIAT'S EXPLANATION REGARDING THE SAFEGUARD NOTIFICATIONS PORTAL

22.  At its April 2025 regular meeting, the Secretariat explained, and the Committee took note of, the latest status of work regarding an online portal for the submission of safeguard notifications.

14  REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS ON STEPS ALREADY TAKEN AND FUTURE STEPS TO BE TAKEN TO IMPROVE SUBMISSION OF NOTIFICATIONS

23.  On 15 April 2025, a communication from the Chair of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) was sent to all Chairs of the CTG's subsidiary bodies on 15 April 2025. In this communication the CTG Chair referred to the new Secretariat report titled "Notifications Status of Regular/Periodic and One Time Only Notifications in the Goods Area (1995 2024)" (_G/C/W/859). This report, prepared at the request of the CTG, provides detailed data on submission rates and the annual number of such notifications.

24.  The CTG Chair invited the Chairs of its subsidiary bodies to: (1) discuss the additional steps that could be taken to improve the regular/periodic and one time only notification requirements they oversee; (2) identify the steps needed to improve the quality and timeliness of notification; and (3) inform the Council of past actions that have worked well in improving the number of submitted notifications. The CTG Chair encouraged all bodies to report back to the Council by Monday, 10 November, so that the reports can be considered at the CTG's final formal meeting of 2025.

25.  The Committee, along with the Committees on Anti-Dumping Practices and Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, held joint informal consultations on 29 September 2025. Following these informal consultations, a draft report to the CTG was circulated to the membership in document _RD/SG/81 on 20 October 2025 for comments and discussion at the Regular meeting of the Committee held on 27 October 2025.

26.  The Committee adopted the report to the CTG in document _G/L/1594-G/SG/338.

15  OTHER BUSINESS

27.  At the April 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, the Chair referred to the communication[8] he received on 15 April 2025 from the Chair of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG).[9]

28.  At the October 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, the Chair encouraged Members that had issues to raise with other Members under other business to provide sufficient notice to the Members concerned prior to the meeting in question to ensure that an answer could be provided at the meeting.

29.  At the October 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, Kazakhstan requested to add an item to the agenda, under other business, concerning the European Union's investigation on manganese and silicon-based alloying elements.[10]

30.  At the October 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, the Chair provided an update to Members regarding the Safeguards Notification Portal. The Chair reminded Members that the Portal was available to them for the submission of their safeguard notifications and facilitating access to information on safeguard investigations and measures taken by Members.

16  DATES OF REGULAR MEETINGS IN 2026

31.  At the October 2025 regular meeting of the Committee, as part of the steps agreed on by Members to improve the functioning of the Committee (_G/SG/284), Members set the dates of both regular meetings of 2026.