Research On The Issues Of Transitional Period Clauses In The WTO System

Since its inception,the WTO system has played a leading and normative role in protecting the stability of the trade order and promoting trade development.The transitional clauses as a vital part of the rules and institutional innovation design,is an important appearance of the endogenous evolution of the rules of the international multilateral trading system.A systematic theoretical study of the transitional clauses in the WTO system has significant academic value and practical application significance.The COVID pandemic that started at the end of 2019 is changing the global political and economic landscape.Against the background of the continuous spread of the pandemic,the tendency of developed countries to deglobalization is becoming more and more obvious,and trade protectionism and unilateralism are infiltrated.Compared with developing countries,developed countries have incomparable bargaining ability and rule dominance advantage.By coordinating the positions of developed countries and weighing their interests,they ultimately lead the formation of rules in the WTO system.The concerns of developed countries about their own position in the international economic structure and the decline of their competitiveness,the rise of emerging market countries in groups and tiers,and the differences in attitudes towards multilateral trade integration between developed and developing countries have gradually shaped the Realistic barriers to deepening and perfecting the WTO system.The mainstream view in the academic world is that,the transitional clauses are contained in the overall institutional arrangement of special and differential treatment for developing members in the multilateral trading system,and focus on the development level and capacity building of developing members.Constrained by the clamor of anti-globalization behaviors of developed countries,the rationality and appropriateness of the transitional clauses have been impacted.Rigorous design of rules-oriented transitional clauses as a foothold for developing members to safeguard their rights.Due to the lack of regulation on the role of power,which leads to the lack of fairness and impartiality of WTO rules,it is particularly necessary to alleviate the existing problems of transitional clauses.It is more practical to discuss China’s application of transitional clauses in the WTO system.In this way,it can not only alleviate the localization obstacles of cutting feet and fit feet,but also eliminate the constant conflict between the rules,thereby strengthening the richness and extensibility of the transitional clauses in the WTO system,and meeting the actual needs of the optimization and improvement of the transitional clauses in the WTO system.As an essential part of the world’s most important governance platform,the WTO rule system,the transitional clause constitutes an effective institutional norm of the multilateral trading system.However,due to the complex multilateral economic and trade rules that have undergone a long evolution from the International Trade Organization to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,to the finalized World Trade Organization,with the continuous expansion and rapid growth of members,it has become the most distinctive feature of multilateral trading system.As a large number of developing members,how to achieve rapid economic growth and protect their legitimate rights and interests in the multilateral trading system is increasingly becoming the focus of attention of the vast number of developing countries,and also constitutes a difficult problem in theoretical research.The rule construction with the transition clause as the core should be the place of institutional innovation for safeguarding the rights and interests of developing members.Due to the influence of both subjective and objective factors,the transitional clauses in the existing multilateral trading system show typical characteristics of fragmentation and ambiguity in terms of rule design and institutional norms.,developing members have the shortcoming of a serious lack of rule-building capabilities,and more of the pursuit of a rights protection mechanism centered on special and differential treatment,and even in academic terms,special and differential treatment clauses are used as the upper-level norm to cover the transition.The recognition of the transitional clauses has resulted in a greater lack of institutional design for the transitional clauses.At the same time,due to the lack of rigorous institutional norms and corresponding rule guarantees in the transitional provisions set at the establishment of the WTO,although the time limit for the transitional provisions set by the WTO has paid attention to the differences between members with different economic development levels,the two types of The huge development gap between members makes it difficult to achieve the unified application of the WTO rule system through the extremely limited transition period provisions,which objectively produces the crux and difficulties that the transition period clauses are only in name but nothing.After the establishment of the WTO,the newly acceding members produced a new provision of transitional period provisions in the WTO system through the WTO accession protocol and the report of the working group,and there are also obvious differences in the transitional period provisions enjoyed by the 36 new acceding members.In view of the fact that there are still more than 30 parties applying for accession still in the process of accession negotiation,it is inevitable that the applicable transition period will be quite different.From the perspective of applicable subjects,at least three types can be distinguished.Firstly,the WTO transitional provisions and rules enjoyed by all members as founding members of the WTO;secondly,as new acceding members,the transitional provisions,rules and institutional norms reflected in the WTO accession protocol and the report of the accession working group;thirdly,The rights and obligations related to the transitional clauses involved in the members applying for accession through negotiation.These three differences and different institutional designs essentially lead to legal issues related to the transitional provisions in the WTO system.It is urgent to conduct necessary and systematic comprehensive research and judgments from theoretical analysis,rule application,crux analysis,and rule construction,so as to provide WTO rules and regulations.Consummating and reforming and making useful attempts constitute the basic thinking context and logical system of the writing of this dissertation.Through a comprehensive and systematic review and analysis of the current status of domestic and foreign research on transitional clauses,it can be found that the academic community lacks a systematic understanding of transitional clauses,and the fragmentation is more prominent.The outstanding performance is the lack of a clear definition of the concept of transitional clauses.From a theoretical point of view,it is common to confuse transitional clauses with special and differential treatment.Some scholars even regard the two as equivalent.Developments related to transitional clauses There are also flaws in the typological examination of Chinese countries,and the theoretical problems caused by conceptual ambiguity are various.From a practical point of view,combined with the specific context of my country’s application of the transitional clauses,the problems existing in the application of the transitional clauses in the process of my country’s integration into the multilateral trading system are clarified.Because the protocol contains integral terms,China has in fact signed a bilateral treaty with the WTO by joining the protocol,and the issue of my country’s application of transitional clauses is linked to the new round of reforms in the WTO system.It should be the meaning of the title to present the optimization approach of the transitional clauses in the WTO system from the dual dimensions of theory and practice,so that the transitional clauses can be more properly integrated into the WTO rule system.Therefore,based on the existing research foundation of the academic community,this dissertation defines the concept of transitional clauses,and uses this as the starting point of the research to separate theoretical issues and examine practical issues,and explore a path suitable for the improvement of transitional clauses in the WTO system.At the same time,this dissertation expects to properly discuss the issues that should be paid attention to in the reform of the WTO system from the perspective of the transitional period,so as to benefit the WTO system’s containment function.In addition,if we can provide some thinking for my country to buffer the negative impact of the deglobalization phenomenon,the research value and significance of this dissertation will be more prominent.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,there are five chapters in the main body,which are as follows:Chapter 1——Theoretical interpretation of the transitional clauses in the WTO system.This chapter mainly discusses the concept of transition clause,its origin and its legal basis.First of all,it is the premise of this dissertation to define the concept of transitional clauses.In the context of WTO,there is still a lack of a normative and unified cognition of transitional clauses.This dissertation believes that the understanding of the concept of transitional terms can be divided into two cognitive perspectives: broad and narrow.The transitional terms in a broad sense not only include the contents of all transitional clauses stipulated in the WTO rules,but also include,in addition to the WTO rules,the relevant terms to improve the design of transitional clauses and the construction of the related system of transitional clauses.The transitional clauses in the narrow sense only refer to the content of all transitional clauses stipulated in the existing WTO rules.As the object of this study,the transition period clause only exists in the WTO system,and should be within the perspective of the narrow dimension.Combining the broad and narrow perspectives,this dissertation proposes that the transitional term refers to the sum of norms for the differentiated allocation of rights and obligations among members in the WTO system,negotiated by the members,based on the ability of the members to participate in the construction of the rule system,on the premise of applying the rules equally within a special period of time.It is embodied as the normative sum of the differentiated allocation of rights and obligations among members.The characterization of the transitional clauses is based on this,and the appearance of specialization,differentiation,impartiality,and provisionality is remarkable.Secondly,on the basis of the comparison and analysis of the transitional clauses and the adjacent terms,the research object of this dissertation is defined and explained,and the particularity and unique value of the transitional clauses are further demonstrated,the legal nature,constituent elements,legal characteristics,context framework and legal status have also become important aspects of the theoretical interpretation of the transitional clauses.Thirdly,look back at the reasons for the generation of the transitional clauses,in order to highlight the tension of changes in the relevant terms of the transitional clauses.The formation of transitional clauses is influenced by the inclusiveness of the multilateral trading system,the differences among members,and the need to maintain national economic security.Finally,the jurisprudence of the transitional clauses is explained through the interpretation of the principles,the principle of national economic sovereignty,the doctrinal division of transitional clauses,the principle of special and differential treatment for developing members,the principle of fairness and mutual benefit,and the rationality justification under the Coase theorem.Together,they constitute the academic foundation support of the legal interpretation of the transition terms.Chapter 2-Application of transitional clauses in the WTO system.This chapter is mainly based on the sorting out of the transitional clauses in the WTO system,the presentation of the applicable objects of the transitional clauses,and the clarification of the scope of application of the transitional clauses.First,the clarification of transitional clauses in the WTO system includes two aspects: the general overview of transitional clauses and the specific sorting out of transitional clauses.An overview of the transitional clauses in the WTO system shows that there are two types of transitional clauses at this stage: transitional clauses in multilateral trade agreements and transitional clauses in various documents for developing and least developed members to join the WTO.Because the transition period terms in the WTO system are more general,the specific sorting out will focus on the transition period terms in multilateral trade agreements.Trade in services,trade in goods,and trade-related intellectual property rights agreements are all covered.Secondly,based on the theoretical basis of the transition clause,it can be seen that the applicable objects of the transition clause include not only developing members,but also developed members.As a large number of applicable objects,developing members are the main groups to which the transitional clauses apply.At the same time,within the developing members,the specific concept of the least developed member is distinguished.Therefore,the least developed member theoretically obtains a longer term of protection than ordinary developing members in terms of the protection time limit of the transitional period clause.Developed members belong to a relatively small number of specific groups.Thirdly,the clarification of the scope of application of the transition period terms is discussed in accordance with the transition period terms in multilateral trade agreements,and the arrangement of the transition period terms presents the effect of governance by the rules of the multilateral trading system.Finally,based on the presentation of the applicable objects and the clear scope of application of the transitional clauses,the structural functions of the transitional conditions are evaluated.Although the transitional clauses arrangement has positive aspects in enhancing the degree of trade liberalization,expanding the effect of trade radiation,promoting the effect of GSP implementation and reducing trade friction and resistance,the crux and deficiencies related to the transitional provisions are mainly manifested in the relativity of developing countries’ development concepts,the lack of developed countries as the applicable objects,and the unreasonable setting of members’ rights.From a macro perspective,clarify the positive and negative aspects of the arrangement of transitional clauses,and then provide a breakthrough to dispel the fog for the microscopic development of transitional clauses in multilateral trade agreements.Chapter 3-Review of transitional clauses in the WTO system.This chapter is mainly based on the appearance of the existing problems in the transitional clauses and the analysis of the causes of the existing problems in the transitional clauses.The insufficiency of the protection of the rights of the applicable objects,the defects in the classification of the applicable objects,the ambiguity of the cognition of the expansion of the scope of application,and the flaws in the setting method of the applicable time have all become the appearance of the existing problems of the transitional clauses.The limitations of the GSP arrangement,the randomness of the graduation terms,and the complexity of the application procedures have weakened the strength of the rights protection of the objects to which the transitional clauses apply.The simple binary classification of developed members and developing members based on membership status in the WTO system cannot meet the needs of real development,and the over-generalization of the criteria for identifying members of developing countries has become a prominent manifestation of the flaw in the classification and distinction of applicable objects.The fuzzy cognition of the expansion of the scope of application is mainly manifested in three aspects: the imperfection of the rule system of traditional trade formats,the impact of the rule system of emerging trade formats,and the inconsistency of the semantics of the transition terms.The integration dilemma of the applicable time setting and the simplification obstacle of the applicable time method constitute the performance of the applicable time setting method.After examining the appearance of the problem,it can be considered that the causes of the existing problems of the transitional clauses lie mainly in internal and external aspects.From the inside,the theoretical and technical issues in the design of the transitional clauses restrict the realization of the functions of the transitional clauses.From the outside,the start and evolution of the transitional clauses are infiltrated under the goal of maximizing economic interests held by developed countries,and the resulting induced changes cannot effectively respond to the economic development needs of developing countries and LDCs.From the standpoint of holism,economies with different development status quo should determine differentiated institutional designs,so as not to lose sight of one thing and another and lose ground.After clarifying the chronic problems of the transitional clauses in the WTO system,and supplemented by the analysis of the root causes of the problems,it can adapt the will of the system construction of the transitional clauses to play their due functions.As one of the most important economies in the world,China is a typical representative of developing countries.How to observe and examine the true portrayal of the application of the transitional clauses in the WTO system in China will be an important content.Chapter 4-China’s application of transitional clauses in the WTO system.This chapter mainly expounds on the background of China’s application of the transitional clause,the content of China’s application of the transitional clause,the basis for the conflict of the accession protocol and the impact of China’s application of the transitional clause.First of all,the background of China’s application of the transitional clauses is based on the process of China’s accession to the WTO.By clarifying the background of China’s application of transitional clauses,it is possible to fully grasp the economic effects of the institutional functions carried by transitional clauses in developing members.The core documents of China’s accession to the WTO are the Protocol on China’s Accession to the WTO and the Working Group Report,which are bilateral in form and multilateral in substance,and at the same time has the characteristics of a unilateral treaty to highlight its own function.The content of China’s application of the transitional clauses will revolve around the "Protocol on China’s Accession to the WTO".Secondly,interpret the "Protocol on China’s Accession to the WTO".Make the transition period terms self-consistent with China’s rights and obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization,including the gradual liberalization of trade rights,the gradual elimination of non-tariff measures,the enjoyment of preferential treatment during the transition period of prohibitive subsidies,the gradual reduction of agricultural tariffs and transitional Notification of agricultural products under the review mechanism,transition period in technical barriers to trade,optimization of comparability of anti-dumping prices,unfair transition period special guarantee terms,transition period matching in WTO reserved measures.Thirdly,analyze the legal attributes of the WTO accession protocol,and clarify the theoretical basis and procedural basis of the conflict.Finally,clarify the impact and value of China’s application of transitional clauses.The recognition of non-market economy status,the impact of international trade in agricultural products,the opportunities and challenges faced by the service industry,the impact of the transitional special guarantee terms on China,the impact of the transitional review mechanism on China,and the impact of intellectual property protection measures together become China The impact of applying the transitional clauses shows that when China signed the WTO accession protocol,China was also formulating common rules for itself and other signatory members,and entrusted the task of clarifying the terms of the WTO agreement to the panel and the Appellate Body.The optimization of the arrangement of transitional clauses will also be settled in the reform of the WTO system.Chapter 5—Optimization of transitional clauses in the WTO system.This chapter is mainly based on the clarification of the basic concept and the development of specific rules in the transitional period in the WTO system as the perfect perspective.On the one hand,how to improve the transitional clauses in the new round of WTO rule system reform should be based on the clarity of the basic concept,and stick to the direction of optimization from the macro level,on the other hand,we should focus on the development of specific rules,and sort out the guidelines for the development of the approach from the micro level.In terms of basic concepts,the adherence is based on four institutional sticking points as a cognitive perspective: the concept of equal consultation and cooperation,the establishment of the concept of differentiation of rights and obligations,the adherence to the concept of special and differential treatment,and the combination of the concept of hardening and softening of transitional clauses,so as to solve the main dilemma restricting the rerfection of the transitional clauses in the WTO system,and to promote the fairness of WTO rules and the realization of the value of fairness.In the development of specific rules,the optimal approach is to clarify the generation method,applicable objects,scope and time of transitional clauses.The generation method of the transition period clause involves the equal participation of all WTO members,the limitation of the game equilibrium between the north and the south,and the adherence to the specific standard setting.Clarification of the applicable objects of the transition period terms should differentiate the rights and obligations of members with different economic development levels in the transition period terms,and provide preferential institutional guarantees and rules arrangements for the least developed countries.To improve the scope of application of transitional clauses,attention should be paid to the impact of emerging trade formats on the existing rule system,and the scope of application of transitional clauses should be extended to emerging fields such as digital trade,e-commerce,and information technology industries,so as to enhance the flexibility of transitional clauses..The time design of the transition period terms should meet the needs of developing countries for flexibility in setting the transition period.The existing transition period for developing countries can be extended or extended by means of the declaration of the WTO Ministerial Conference.Different arrangements can be considered in the time limit design of the transitional period terms in the system.The longest transitional period terms are only applicable to the least developed countries,the general transitional period terms are only applicable to developing countries,and the special transitional period terms are only applicable to developed countries.The entry path of differentiated classification can adopt the combination of the recognition system and the application system,so as to realize the system structure that the system functions should have,and form a coupling between the legislative concept and the system design.