A 'Safeguard Duty' is a temporary trade protection measure imposed against a specific country that is found guilty of violating WTO intellectual property rules.

Safeguard duties are not punitive measures against unfair trade practices like dumping or IP theft. Instead, they are emergency 'escape valves' applied on a Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) basis against all importing countries when there is a sudden, massive, and unforeseen surge in imports that threatens to cause serious injury to the domestic industry, allowing them time to adjust.