Multilateral Trading System Under The Principle Of Tariff Concessions

Section Ⅰ focuses on the ontology of the Principle of tariff concession and its definition. Throughout the GATT1994, tariff concession hardly directly appears, so principle of tariff concession is implicit. As to its definition, tariff concession consists of how to concede tariff, how to exercise the results of concession, and its exceptions. The principle of tariff concession proscribes the tariff-making subjects should substantively concede it tariffs and effectively assure the enforcement of the concession.Section Ⅱ shows the causes why the principle is able to exist. In spite of a large number of scholarships of international economics, the main adversary two parts are liberalism of trade and protectionism of trade with respect to international trade policies. Trade liberalization reflects the process of realizing the goal of liberalism, confirming the rationality of existence of protectionism. As a consequence, principle of tariff concession arises out of the practice of liberalization.Two-Level-and-Three-Facet Theory is a means by which international trade law might be construed reasonably and statically. In the view of principle of tariff concession, it can be followed that the principle is identical to legal rules whose legality is derived from the legitimacy of state. The enforcement of the principle is on the basis of variety from the law of international reconciling facet to the law of the vertical regulatory facet. The principle involved in the public law of international reconciling facet, reflects the mutual supervision relationship among the states. The law of the upper facet (international reconciling facet) has a movement from the bilateral reconciling law to the multilateral reconciling law with more and more strengthened organizing. As the product of the advance of the upper-facet law, the principle can reduce the costs of legislation and policy making.Section III manifests the realization of the principle. Thenegotiation of tariff concession is the negotiation by the tariff-making subjects to tackle the affairs in respect of the enforcement of tariff concession. The categories of the negotiation in the research are displayed as follows: location, times of round, periods, places, amount of participants, achievement, approach. Its approaches increasingly include "product by product" traditional approach, liner reduction approach, and formula reduction approach.The achievement, mainly in the schedules, can be realized by several means which are divided into two kinds, i. e. ordinary inner enforcement and inner enforcement through the legal stage of DSB. The former is easy, and the latter plays the supplementary role through the reports of panels. The panels have interpreted the relevant wordings. These interpretations show the doctrine of strict enforcement insisted on by the panels of DSB.The tariff concession schedules are not Invariable, the members of GATT/WTO shall not randomly modify the promises of their schedules, if they have not done it in compliance with the meaning of Article 28 of GATT1994.Section IV is concerned with the development of the principle. Exaggerating the tendency of vertical decline of total tariff level effected by the principle, is not admissible. Actually, it should occur that vibrating decline of total tariff level appears to intend to approach "zero" , not but to get to "zero" . The conclusion results from two reasons: one is the utility of tariff for the protection of tariff-making subjects' industries; the other is the function of tariff against the boom of the non-tariff policies in the international trade.