Trade And The Environment Under WTO: The Case Law Of The Environmental Exception Clauses

With the further development of the globalization of economy, as well as the growing acknowledgement of the importance of environmental conservation by the whole international society, the relationship between international trade and environmental protection calls for more and more attention. The conflict between free trade and environmental protection under the multilateral trade system is the most urgent one. Nowadays, WTO, including its highly developed and authoritative rules and dispute settlement system, seems undoubtedly to be an appropriate forum to harmonize the confliction at issue. The reports of the panel and the appellate body of DSB on typical cases concerning the trade-environment conflict under GATT Article XX (b) and (g), have developed a "case law" which is really a contribution made by the DSB both to the world and WTO system itself, and, is which this article aims to make a comprehensive and penetrative analysis about.