WTO法律规则的逻辑内涵与适用外延——以轰动一时的“稀土案”专家组裁决报告为例

Logic Connotation and Applied Denotation of WTO Legal Rules:Taking the Panel Report on China-Rare Earth as Example

WTO争端解决的"规则导向"要求争端当事方准确理解WTO法律规则的逻辑内涵与适用外延,而轰动一时的"稀土案"专家组裁决报告最能说明这一点。该案专家组对所涉规则的适用和解释凸显其持有的自由裁量权,申诉方对中国国内相关措施的非议和建议均渗透至专家组的法律推理过程和裁决结果,而中国的辩护理由和评论意见则显然剥离了WTO相关规则之间的关联。从规范和实证角度,厘清WTO法律规则之间的一致性及其中存在的局限性,澄清WTO法律规则与国际法相关基本理论之间的关系,有助于争端解决中准确理解和选择援用WTO的法律规则。

Rule-orientation persisted in WTO dispute settlement demands that parties to a dispute should adequately comprehend the logic connotation and applied denotation of those multilateral legal rules,and sensational China-Rear Earth can be regarded as the very example for discussing this topic. In this case,factual analysis with correspondent determination and judicial interpretation with immediate reasoning by the panel prominently show its holding discretionary power,the complainants not only hunt proofs for supporting their claims and arguments, but also permeate the panel's reasoning process and final rulings with their censures on China's domestic legislation and policy-making, while China's defending reasons and comments seem to strip the WTO rules away with rigid understanding and explanation on certain terms or theories. By applying approaches of normative and empirical analysis,this paper attempts to illustrate uniformity and limitations of WTO legal rules,to clarify relationships between WTO legal rules and fundamental theories of public international law as well as those on international trade so as to help to precisely understand and apply those legal rules in the course of dispute settlement.