GATT“公共道德例外条款”探析

An Analysis of Public Morals Exception Clause of GATT

作为"公共道德例外"条款,GATT第20条第1款虽早已允许各国采取"必要的保护公共道德"的贸易限制措施,然而内涵与外延均含混不清的"公共道德概念"在这一框架内却持续了数十载之久。其后,WTO对美国赌博案的裁定为"公共道德例外条款"的发展做出了突破性的贡献,上诉机构首次对该条款作了一些阐释,但仍旧没有厘清"公共道德"的内涵和外延问题。通过围绕这些问题进行思考,研究提出公共道德概念的内涵和外延应分别朝着"国际化"和"广义的"方向谨慎地发展。

As a ＂public morals exception＂ clause, although Article XX （a） of GATT already allowed countries to adopt trade measures ＂necessary to protect public morals＂, the ambiguous connotation and denotation of ＂concept of public morals＂ had lasted for several decades in this framework. Subsequently, the verdict of WTO U.S.-Gambling case made a breakthrough contribution to the development of ＂public morals exception clause＂. The Appellate Body firstly made a number of the interpretation tO the terms, but still did not clarify the content and extension of ＂public morals＂. In this paper, reflecting on these issues, the author proposes proposing that the content and extension of the ＂public morals＂ would be respectively developed toward the ＂international＂ and ＂broad＂ directions with caution.