On Issues Concerning The Application Of Safeguard Measures By Members Of Regional Trade Arrangement

So far the WTO jurisprudence has not resolved the puzzle of how WTO members that are also part of a regional trade arrangement (RTA) to conduct and apply safeguards, it was neither clarified in the practice of DSB. Can they implement safeguard measures to each other? Can or must they exclude regional imports from the injury determination? Can or must they apply the eventual safeguard only to third parties, or are they under an obligation rather to apply all safeguards on a non-discriminatory basis? Those are the keys to solve the problem, and the questions examined in this paper.Chapter One discusses the predicament when a member of RTA implements safeguard measures. There is no coupling between the issues of RTA and safeguard in the WTO jurisprudence. Therefore, the member of RTA always operates according to their own provisions, and the DSB has no legislative foundation to solve these problems.The issue on mutually application of safeguard measures in the RTA is discussed in Chapter Two. Analysing the quality and function of safeguard measures, the realistic status of RTA, and the meanings of GATT Article XXIV, can intensively support the viewpoint that the member of RTA can apply safeguard to each other.The issue on the exemption of safeguard measures between the members of RTA is discussed in Chapter Three. The paper emphasizes particularly on the analysis of prescript, such as GATT Article XXIV, GATT Article XIX, and Agreement on Safeguards. It is brought forward that regional selective safeguards is allowable, and the RTA partners can apply the eventual safeguard only to third parties.In Chapter Four, the author discusses the necessary restriction of WTO on the application of safeguards in RTA. In the passed cases, DSB was inclined to set some stringent conditions----Parallelism principle, to control the application of safeguards. Though the principle didn't solve the problem thoroughly, it prohibits the misuse of safeguards in RTA, and has significant effect.Chapter Five proposes assumptions on how to select the modes of safeguards in the practice of China and RTA. The mode of totally elimination is not adapt to the realistic of our country, the mode of non-discrimination is more legitimate, and the mode of partially application has special significance to our country, which deserves innovation and experiment.