A Study On The Issue Of "Market Disruption"in The Legal Documents On The Accession Of China To WTO

In the legal documents on the accession of China to WTO, there are two special safeguard clauses applicable only to China. One is Article 16 of Protocol on the Accession of the People's Republic of China, which is applied to ordinary products of Chinese origin, and the other is Paragraph 242 of Report of the Working Party on the Accession of China, which is applied to textiles and apparel products of Chinese origin."Market disruption", a core concept of the two special safeguard clauses, is significant to the imposition of the special safeguard measures. The thesis analyzes"market disruption"mainly from the point of treaty interpretation, with the purpose to present a guide for China to cope with the special safeguard investigations instituted by the other WTO members and make our thoughts clear when utilizing the WTO dispute settlement mechanism to solve the corresponding disputes. The thesis includes four chapters besides the preface and conclusion.Chapter 1 introduces the emergence and development of the concept of market disruption. The criteria for determining whether market disruption exists vary in different periods, whereas its purpose of trade protection remains changeless.Chapter 2 expounds the preliminary issues of the interpretation of"market disruption". First, the chapter elucidates that the interpretation rules set forth in Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, as"customary rules of interpretation of public international law"referred by DSU in Article 3.2, should be applied to the WTO disputes. Then, according to the interpretation rules set forth in Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the chapter points out the WTO agreements which should be mainly applied to the interpretation of"market disruption", i.e. Agreement on Safeguards, Agreement on Textiles and Clothing and Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of GATT1994. Finally, the chapter clarifies the consistency of the concept of market disruption in the two special safeguard clauses.Chapter 3 probes into the criteria for the determination of market disruption. According to the relevant provisions of Agreement on Safeguards, Agreement on Textiles and Clothing and Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of GATT1994 and the relevant WTO cases, the chapter analyzes the criteria from four aspects, i.e. increase in imports, domestic industry, injury and causation.Chapter 4 points out our attitude and countermeasures to the two special safeguard clauses in the legal documents on the accession of China to WTO. In the countermeasures, the practical meaning of studying market disruption is further illuminated.