Research On The Rules Of China's Export Restrictions To Natural Resources Under The Framework Of WTO

Export restriction is an important issue under the WTO framework,but for a long time,both theorists and practitioners have paid less attention to it.In the WTO legal practices,the majority of provisions were made for reducing import tariffs and the elimination of import barriers,provisions which directly concerned in export restraints relatively limit,and compared to a large number of disputes caused by import trade restrictions,disputes related to export restrictions also appear to be very few.However,in the era when global natural resources are increasingly scarce,countries of the world began to frequently take measures of export restrictions to protect their own limited natural resources.Thus,the contradiction between the resource-exporting countries and importing countries inevitably produced,and the match between the export restrictions and WTO rules has also became the focal point of international trade.China,as one of the world's leading suppliers of natural resources,caught in such disputes more frequently,like the coke case,the raw materials case and the case of rare earth today.Although all these cases have come to the close,it can be inferred that disputes caused by the export restrictions to natural resources will be continues.In this context,to sort out and research the rules on export restrictions to natural resources under the framework of WTO,not only has important theoretical value,the more immediate practical significance.On the basis of a systematic analysis of typical cases,this thesis,with WTO rules about the restrictions on exports of natural resources as basic research object,clarifies the specific meaning and requirements of the relevant rules and,in turn,proposes practical response to the legal predicament which China faces in the restrictions on export to natural resources currently,making that neither contrary to WTO rules,but also to achieve the purpose of conservation of natural resources.Part one—divided into three parts: first,introduced the definition of the export restriction,and its specific measures.Second,analysed all the rules related to the export restriction under the WTO framework.Last but not least,summarized the legal issues of the cases that China has been involved related to the export restriction.According to the above discussions,there were two legal issues need to be solved when dealing with the export restriction by China.Part 2-is aimed to clarify the application effect priority between the WTO Covered Agreements and the China Accession Protocol.Firstly,the legal position of China Accession Protocol under the WTO framework should be discussed,as well as the promised that made by China in the Accession protocol.Secondly,try to summarise the logic behind the reports that made by the WTO's dispute-settlement body about whether China can apply the Article 20 of GATT1994.Last,made the comments on the above legal issues.Part 3-tries to clarify the basic meaning and specific application requirements of GATT1994 Article 20.Restrictions on export to natural resources for environment(Article 20,paragraph(b)and(g)of GATT),aims to make a profound analysis to Article 20,paragraph(b)and(g)of GATT and clarify their specific application conditions,on the basis of summary of years of legal practice under WTO.