WTO“安全例外条款”研究

Research on WTO “Security Exception Clause”

安全例外条款是二战后各国在促进贸易自由的过程中为保护国家安全而设置的一种国际义务的逃脱机制,平衡了贸易自由促进与国家安全保护之间的矛盾。然而由于其条款设置的自决范围不明、援引会员国措施的必要性要求难以确定、基本安全利益的定义过于宽泛以及条款定义模糊,在实践中存在会员国滥用该条款逃避条约义务的情况,且争端解决机构难以对其进行审查。为真正发挥安全例外条款的作用,应当对该条款的适用进行严格限制,将其中“基本安全利益”的含义限定为“主权独立与政权稳定”,对会员国适用该条款的行为设置一般性限制,赋予争端解决机构审查该条款适用情况的权限,并要求其适用行为受到国际法基本原则的限制。

The security exception clause is an escape mechanism of international obligations set up by countries to protect national security in the process of promoting trade freedom after World War II. It balances the contradiction be-tween the promotion of trade freedom and the protection of national security. However, due to the unclear scope of self-determination set by its provisions, the difficulty in determining the necessity of invoking measures by Member States, the overly broad definition of fundamental security inter-ests, and the ambiguity in the definition of the provisions, there are instances in practice where Member States abuse the provisions to evade treaty obligations, and it is difficult for dispute reso-lution bodies to review them. In order to truly play the role of the security exception clause, the ap-plication of this clause should be strictly restricted, and the meaning of “essential security interests” should be limited to “sovereign independence and political stability”, which is applicable to mem-ber states. The behavior of this clause sets general restrictions, gives the dispute settlement agency the authority to review the application of this clause, and requires its applicable behavior to be re-stricted by the basic principles of international law.