Safeguard Measures in World Trade: The Legal Analysis 4th ed

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Authors

Yong-Shik Lee

• ISBN: 9781800887497
• Published: July 2025
• Format: Hardback
• Language: English
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited (UK)

Description

Safeguard Measures in World Trade: The Legal Analysis (4th edition) offers a comprehensive, article-by-article examination of WTO rules on safeguard measures, focusing on GATT Article XIX and the Agreement on Safeguards. It explains how “emergency” trade measures can be used in response to sudden import surges, while remaining consistent with WTO obligations.

This fully updated edition analyses the practical challenges of applying safeguards in a trading system marked by stalled multilateral negotiations, the proliferation of regional trade agreements, and the ongoing crisis of the WTO dispute settlement system. It also expands the discussion of safeguard rules in services and the development dimension of safeguards, combining doctrinal analysis with policy-oriented proposals for reform.

Key Features

• Detailed analysis of GATT Article XIX and the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, with clear explanations of core concepts such as increased imports, serious injury and causation. 
• Systematic coverage of WTO, US and EU safeguard rules, illustrating how different jurisdictions design and implement safeguard regimes. 
• Discussion of the Doha Round impasse, the proliferation of regional trade agreements and their impact on the global safeguard regime. 
• Examination of safeguard measures in the trade in services, including the need for emergency safeguards under the GATS.
• Policy-oriented proposals for reforming safeguard rules, including model texts and practical checklists for policymakers and practitioners. 

Readership

This book is designed for:

• Trade lawyers advising on safeguard investigations and WTO dispute settlement.
• Government officials and WTO delegates working on trade remedies and safeguard notifications.
• Judges, arbitrators and adjudicators dealing with trade-related disputes.
• Academics, researchers and postgraduate students in international economic law and trade policy.
• Economists and consultants assessing the impact of emergency trade measures on industries and value chains.

About the Authors

Professor Yong-Shik Lee is a leading scholar of international economic law and trade remedies. His work on safeguard measures and law-and-development has been widely cited by scholars, practitioners and policy institutions. In this fourth edition, he combines doctrinal analysis, empirical references and policy recommendations to provide both a reference tool and a reform agenda for the safeguard regime. 

Table of Contents

Part I – Development of International Rules on Safeguards

1. Politics and economics of safeguard measures
2. GATT Article XIX and negotiation of the Agreement on Safeguards

Part II – Agreement on Safeguards

3. Article XIX and Agreement on Safeguards
4. Article 2 – General conditions
5. Article 4 – Injury and causation
6. Procedural requirements
7. Application of safeguard measure
8. Compensation and retaliation

Part III – Other Safeguard Provisions

9. Remaining issues
10. Discussions on safeguard measures in the service trade: GATS Article X
11. Other emergency import restrictions in the WTO
12. National/regional rules on safeguards
13. Regional trade agreements and safeguard measures

Part IV – Safeguard Regime: Present and Future

14. Lessons to remember
15. Future perspective and conclusion
Appendices: Statistics on safeguard measures; texts of GATT Article XIX and the Agreement on Safeguards; proposed modifications and model rules; application checklist. 

Why buy this book?

• Provides a single, authoritative source on safeguard measures for lawyers, governments and institutions.
• Bridges doctrine and practice with case-oriented analysis, policy proposals and practical checklists.
• Helps readers interpret safeguard rules in the context of current trade tensions, tariff wars and WTO reform debates. 
• Ideal for course reading lists and research libraries needing a current, in-depth resource on safeguards.

Keywords

safeguard measures, WTO, GATT Article XIX, Agreement on Safeguards, trade remedies, emergency import protection, serious injury, Appellate Body crisis, regional trade agreements, international trade law, world trade governance

Target Audience

trade lawyers, international economic law scholars, WTO delegates, government trade officials, policymakers, economists, researchers, postgraduate students, think-tank analysts, international business advisors

Genre

law, international trade law, economics, professional reference, academic monograph

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