A Study On The Application Of The "General Exception" Clause Of GATT

The objectives of WTO include not only trade liberalization, but also social welfare such as environmental protection and public health. In this sense, the"general exception"clause GATT Article XX plays a significant role in balancing WTO Members'autonomy in social policy and trade liberalization. Recent years see an increase in invoking this provision in WTO DSB cases, and notably, cases in which the developing members has become invoking parties. China has tried to defend its challenged measures under GATT Article XX in China-Auto Parts in 2008 and China-Publications and Audiovisual Products in 2009, but has failed. Because the wording of GATT Article XX is very ambiguous and need further clarification through cases, the study of relevant GATT/WTO case reports turns out to be very helpful in following the way of thinking on the part of the Panel and the Appellate Body, and in learning to increase the effectiveness in invoking.This article discusses in seven chapters about the application of GATT Article XX. Chapter 1 studies historically the origin and function of GATT Article XX, and also discusses the general history of application of this provision. Chapter 2 to 6 deals respectively with the application of GATT Article XX (a), (b), (d), (g) and the Chapeau. The methodology employed in these five chapters is elemental analysis as well as case study. The final part of this article, Chapter 7, firstly discusses the situation of China's invoking this provision in China-Auto Parts in 2008 and China-Publications and Audiovisual Products in 2009, and secondly, based on the experience from precedent cases, puts forward suggestions on how to successfully invoke GATT Article XX.