According to the WTO Agreement on Safeguards , a WTO member state may not adopt a safeguard measure until it conducts an investigation to determine whether:
A.
the quantities of a product being imported into the territory of the investigating state have increased sufficiently to cause or threaten to cause serious injury.
B.
the injury is to a domestic firm producing the same or directly competitive products.
C.
the increase in the imported products is the actual cause of the injury to the domestic firm producing the same or directly competitive products.