Under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Article XIX), and the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement (Chapter 11), countries may take emergency action if increased imports cause injury to domestic producers. This concept was carried over into the NAFTA. Chapter 8 of the NAFTA permits, under specified conditions, the parties to impose a temporary, emergency safeguard measure – that is, an increase in the tariff to the prevailing MFN level - in the event imports cause, or threaten to cause, serious injury to domestic producers. In 2008, a NAFTA partner could, assuming the associated conditions are satisfied, invoke a Chapter 8 safeguard provision until 1 year following full implementation of the NAFTA commitments, i.e., until January 1, 2009. Beyond January 1, 2009, the NAFTA Partner could maintain a safeguard arrangement only with the consent of the Party against whose good the action would be taken.