Legal Studies On The Legitimate Objectives Of The TBT Agreement

Legitimate objectives in the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, the TBT,plays a significant role for the Dispute Settlement Body in WTO to render a verdict.The significance of legitimate objectives in settling disputes can be shown from theavoidance of it by the DSB to the first case of the TBT and to the outburst of technicaltrade barriers in the present day. The definition and description stated in the TBTshow the unpredictability and uncertainty of the boundary of legitimate objective.The expert panel and the appellate body accepted the openness of legitimateobjective and demonstrated some unspecified legitimate objectives in legal caseswhile failing to give concrete boundaries and standards to it. Legitimate objectiveremains the focal point in future disputes.This paper analyzes legal relationship between the TBT and other WTOAgreements and the regulatory objects of legitimate objectives. Through literature andcase study, the paper unveils multiple relevant factors of legitimate objective, itsanalytical path and proposes reactionary strategies for China.The first part discusses the regulatory objects and legal resources of legitimateobjectives.The second part gives a deep exploration to the definition of legitimate objectiveand a clear boundary of it through literature study.The third part uses the study of legal cases, including reports from the expertpanel and appellate body in the cases of the US-Cloves, US-Tuna, US-COOL,EC-Sealto analyze the core factors that DSB gives in disputes settlements and to providereferences in finding the correct path to legitimate objective.The fourth part proposes reactionary recommendations for China from themaking of technical regulations and standards.