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1. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(a) ‘obstacles to trade’ means any trade practice adopted or maintained by a third country in respect of which international trade rules establish a right of action; such a right of action exists when international trade rules either prohibit a practice outright, or give another party affected by the practice a right to seek elimination of the effect of the practice in question;

(b) ‘the Union’s rights’ means the international trade rights of which the Union may avail itself under international trade rules; in this context, ‘international trade rules’ are primarily those established under the auspices of the WTO and laid down in the Annexes to the WTO Agreement, but they can also be those laid down in any other agreement to which the Union is a party and which sets out rules applicable to trade between the Union and third countries;

(c) ‘injury’ means any material injury which an obstacle to trade causes or threatens to cause, in respect of a product or service, to a Union industry, on the market of the Union;

(d) ‘adverse trade effects’ means the adverse effects which an obstacle to trade causes or threatens to cause, in respect of a product or service, to Union enterprises, on the market of any third country, and which have a material impact on the economy of the Union or of a region of the Union, or on a sector of economic activity in the Union; the fact that the complainant suffers from such adverse effects shall not be considered sufficient to justify, on its own, the Union institutions proceeding with any action;

(e) ‘Union industry’ means either:

(i) all Union producers or providers:

— of products or services identical or similar to the product or service which is the subject of an obstacle to trade;

— of products or services competing directly with that product or service; or — who are consumers or processors of the product or consumers or users of the service which is the subject of an obstacle to trade; or (ii) all those producers or providers whose combined output constitutes a major proportion of total Union production of the products or services in question; however:

— when producers or providers are related to the exporters or importers or are themselves importers of the product or service alleged to be the subject of obstacles to trade, the term ‘Union industry’ may be interpreted as referring to the rest of the producers or providers;

— in particular circumstances, the producers or providers within a region of the Union may be regarded as the Union industry if their collective output constitutes the major proportion of the output of the product or service in question in the Member State or Member States within which the region is located provided that the effect of the obstacle to trade is concentrated in that Member State or those Member States;

(f) ‘Union enterprise’ means a company or firm formed in accordance with the law of a Member State and having its registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the Union, that is directly concerned by the production of goods or the provision of services which are the subject of the obstacle to trade;

(g) ‘services’ means those services in respect of which international agreements can be concluded by the Union on the basis of Article 207 of the Treaty.

2. For the purposes of this Regulation, the notion of ‘providers of services’ in the context of both the term ‘Union industry’ and the term ‘Union enterprise’ is without prejudice to the non-commercial nature which the provision of any particular service may have according to the legislation or regulation of a Member State.