| In the developing countries, the industrialization is progressing quickly and efficiently, and the scale of export with lower price is increasing, so the product from them have obvious advantage in competition with others. On the contrary, in soma countries, it is very difficult for the setting sun industries which have no predominance to compete with the developing countries. Therefore there is an irreconcilable conflict between the demand of import restriction and enlarging export. Inevitably, safeguards measures which are instrument to balance the unfair result of free trading will be applicable frequently.Safeguards measures, emergency import restrictions to remedy or prevent serious injury to domestic industry, are significant in world trade today since they allow Members to apply restrictions on imports unilaterally regardless of their binding import concession. Unlike antidumping action and subsidy countervailing measures, safeguards measures do not require the presence of unfair practice on the part of exporters. Therefore, safeguards measures are the only instrument to protect the domestic industry under the fair trading condition. The application of safeguards measures will impair the other Members' benefit which was gained through multilateral trading negotiation. The Members which apply safeguards measures have to observe the strict legal procedure, and compensate the export countries for their loss which result from the application of safeguards measures. That is to say, it is carefully that safeguards measures will be applied.Before 1994, safeguards was governed by Article XIX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The Article laid out the basic concepts for safeguards, but those five-paragraph rules lacked detailed substantive and procedural requirements for the application of a safeguards measure. The lack of the specific requirements caused uncertainty in the discipline of safeguards. Negotiations had been conducted for decades to settle a more comprehensive set of rules on safeguards. The result of the long negotiations finally came out as the agreement on Safeguards. This agreement provides detailed substantive and procedural requirements for the application of a safeguards measure, and features substantial improvements and modifications of the Article, but contains some provisions which are not free of certain deficiencies. From then on, safeguards was governed by the Article and the Agreement.On November 16, 2001,the State Council, China's chief executive branch, published the first regulation specific to safeguards measures, PRC Regulation on Safeguards Measures which is consistent with WTO. China's safeguards regulationcame into force on January 1, 2002. Because of its newness, and the newness of China's trade policy reforms, many questions have arisen as to the regulation's nature and significance. Before December 11, 2013, it is not according to PRC Regulation on Safeguards Measures, but Article XVI under the Chinese Product of Accession to the WTO that the other Members can apply safeguards measures to China's product. Article XVI makes it easier for the others to resort to safeguards measures against China. This is an exception of the principle of nondiscriminatory application of safeguards measures under Article 2, section 2 of the Agreement on safeguards. Therefore, Article XVI is adverse to China. This article provides some ideas for China. In order to respond to the transitional product-specific safeguards measures applied to China's product by the others, and resort to safeguards measures to the other's product to protect China's industry timely, China have to perfect the legal environment of safeguards measures. This Article discusses the above issue from three aspects which include altering industries' expectation and conception, cultivating persons with WTO ability and reforming the guilds. |
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