回顾历史,解剖现实:WTO体制的瑕疵与漏洞应予重视及修补

Reflecting on the History and Examining the Reality:The Systemic Defects and Loopholes of the WTO should be Highlighted and Mended

乌拉圭回合谈判的巨大成就尽人皆知,但此后二十年来WTO协定的运行实践揭示出原来条约起草当中的一些缺陷,例如《马拉喀什协定》第9条、第10条以及DSU中一些程序性条款的缺失。近年来DSU改革的谈判过程中,也收到了为数众多的具体条文修改建议。此外,WTO争端解决实践积累了较多数目的判例,这些判例本身涉及诸多适用协定的法律解释问题。特别是WTO目前有两个较大的体制性问题,上诉机构和专家组尚未在争端解决过程中予以澄清和解决:一是新加入成员的加入议定书与各个适用协定之间的法律关系;二是WTO协定与区域贸易协定之间的法律关系。笔者通过分析有关案例,提出了解决这两个体制性问题的基本思路。总之,回顾历史和解剖现实,WTO体制之中的缺失、瑕疵、漏洞不少,不宜笼统赞颂为'模范国际法',而是应予重视、研究,努力加以修补和纠正。对专业人员特别是专门从事WTO理论研究或实务运作的专家学者来说,显然不宜只停留在歌颂WTO法律体系的先进性或'模范性',而对其中明显存在和亟待改进的瑕疵和漏洞,却熟视无睹,袖手旁观,或避而不谈。秉持法律专业人员应有的正义感,理应做一名现行WTO制度运行的密切守望者、探究者、解剖者和开拓者,就像是一名专业的医生,发现一个法律系统的弊病,诊病、开方、治疗,使组织的机体健康生长,这就是专业人员对WTO能做的历史贡献,这也正是WTO目前所亟需的。

The great achievements of Uruguay Round negotiations are wellknown by the world.However,the 20 years of functioning of the WTO also reveals certain defects and loopholes in the drafting of the single-package treaty,such as Articles 9 and 10 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization and the procedural defects of the DSU.It is not surprising that in recent years,the DSU reform negotiation forum has received wide spread proposals on amending various present provisions.In addition,the WTO dispute settlement process has accumulated a considerable number of jurisprudence and addressed a wide variety of covered agreements and legal issues.There are two major systemic issues that the Appellate Body and the Panel have not yet appropriately clarified,i.e.,the relationship between Accession Protocols and the WTO agreements and the relationship between WTO agreements and the regional trade agreements.The author,through case analysis,proposed specific thinking on how to address these issues in this paper.In general,reflecting on the history and examining the reality,there are a number of defects or loopholes in the single-package WTO Agreement.It is therefore not appropriate to label the WTO system as“model law within the public international law”.Rather,these defects and loopholes should be found out and given sufficient attention so as to mend them for the system.