Research On The Application Of The WTO General Exception Clauses

Article 20 of GATT1994/1947 and Article 14 of GATS in the WTO Agreements are the clauses which the WTO members can apply the domestic measures in some specific situations which do not accord the other clauses in the Agreements and do not need to bear the corresponding duties,also are called the General Exception Clauses.Disputes occurred in practice between the proof order of the Chapeau and every exception measure,the burden to proof of every party in disputes,the meaning of the different words and expressions in every exception clauses,the relationship between general exception clauses and other clauses in the Agreements.In practice,the DSB of WTO forms the" de facto case law "through the reports of the Panel and the Appellate Body.So far,in the application of WTO general exception clauses,disputes often occurs in paragraph(b ),paragraph(g ) of Article 20 in GATT1994/1947 and the relationship between every specific clause and the Chapeau.The application of Article 20 in GATT1994/1947 affects the Article 14 in GATS.The Article 14 in GATS has the serious "path dependence "to the Article 20 in GATT1994/1947.This paper tries to study on the typical cases of the practical application of the General Exception Clauses and the reports of the Panel and the Appellate Body.Through studying,the writer finds that reports of the Panel forms some application rules of the General Exception, but has some wrongs.What the changes of the Reports of the Appellate Body are just the issues that are easy to have disputes in the application of the General Exception Clauses and have the key points of consideration on them.The contents of every chapter in this paper are set as following:Chapter One is about the definition and the contents of the WTO General Exception Clauses.The narrow meaning of the WTO General Exception Clauses only includes the Article 20 in GATT1994/1947 and the Article 14 in GATS.It also introduces the contents,the similarities and differences of the Article 20 in GATT1994/1947 and the Article 14 in GATS.Chapter Two introduces the applications of Paragraph(b) of the Article 20 in GATT1994/1947.This article is also called Public Health Exception Clause.There are typical cases Thailand Cigarette Case and Asbestos Case in this article.To successfully cite this article needs to fit for three conditions. Chapter Three introduces the applications of Paragraph(g) of the Article 20 in GATT1994/1947.There are typical cases Gasoline Standard Case and The Second Shrimp-Turtle Case in this article.To successfully cite this article needs to fit for four conditions.Chapter Four introduces the applications of the Chapeau of the Article 20 in GATT1994/1947 and the Article 14 in GATS.It introduces the aims of the Chapeau of the Article 20 in GATT1994/1947 and the Article 14 in GATS.There is typical case The First Shrimp-Turtle Case in the Chapeau of Article 20 in GATT1994/1947.There is typical case United States Gambling Service Case in the Chapeau of Article 14 in GATSFinally the paper has some advices and countermeasures on the application of the Chapeau of Article 20 in GATT1994/1947,paragraph(b),paragraph(g) and the Chapeau of Article 14 in GATS.The main contents includes:the emphasis of using the WTO General Exception Clause at present stage in our country;how to strengthen to study on the cases concerning the clauses of public health and environment protection;the countermeasures of sues and answers the charge concerning the disputes of the measures of the public health trade; the countermeasures of preventing from producing environment protection trade;the countermeasures of sues and answers the charge concerning the disputes of the measures of the environment protection trade.