Wto Safeguard Measures Applicable

As a remedy of industrial injury and a policy to balance the interests between WTO members, WTO safeguard measures play an important role in WTO legal system, and WTO members are paying more and more attention to it. According to the statistics from the WTO Safeguards Committee, the number of the application of the WTO safeguard measures has been increasing continually since 1995. Now, the situation is different. The safeguard measures are applied mainly by the developing countries, while not the developed countries. That is to say, the safeguard measures have become a trade policy taken commonly by the developing countries. WTO DSB has expressed the rules on the application of WTO safeguard measures more clearly and formed some new standards by explaining the related clauses in the process of settling the disputes. There are two sides to these rules and new standards. It strengthens the application of WTO safeguard measures and normalizes multilaterally again; on the other hand, it makes the application more difficult. Now, the application of WTO safeguard measures has been an important research item for China, even for all the WTO members.In Chapter One, the author gives the definition of WTO safeguard measures and observes its origin. WTO safeguard measures originated from the 19th clause of GATT1947. Its emergence was affected by America and showed much protectionism, and because of GATT's inherent defects and the 19th clause's ambiguity, it didn't act so effectively as anticipatory. In the Uruguay Round, all the members reached a series of agreements including "Agreement on Safeguards" in Marrakesh Morocco in April 1994 after 7 years' hard talk. "Agreement on Safeguards" is effective in all the WTO member countries as a part of the series, and this agreement lays down the norm foundation of WTO safeguard measures legal system. Next, the author analyzes the characteristics of WTO safeguard measures according to the remarks of the third secretariat of GATT, Oliver?Long, who points out that WTO safeguard is a kind of exception or remedy of industrial injury, and it has two purposes: It suspends the members' special obligations under WTO exceptionally, and it urges them to exercise their rights correctly.In Chapter Two, the author analyzes the International Law theoretical basis of the application of WTO safeguard measures. At first, the author sums up all the theories, such as "the Loopholes of Law", "Safety Valve", "Economic Adjustment" and "National Harmonization". They all have two sides. Then, according to the special legal characteristics of WTO legal system, the author states three directive theories on the application of WTO safeguard measures. Namely, at first, as WTO legal system is a member of the family of International Law, they share the same social foundation, legal characteristics and force origins, and WTO looks it this way in practice too, therefore, National Sovereignty is the first theory to guide the application of WTO safeguard measures. Secondly, the content of WTO legal system is mainly about economic rights and duties, WTO members has signed a series of treaties to govern the governments' administration on foreign economic activities, which results in the economic characteristic of its content, therefore, Equity is the second basic theory to guide the application of WTO safeguard measures. Thirdly, WTO legal system consists of a series of treaties in the form; therefore, the Theory of Fundamental Change of Circumstances is the third theoretical guide of the application of WTO safeguard measures. In Chapter Three, the author generally analyzes the characteristics, functions and basic requirements of the application of WTO safeguard measures on the basis of its formulation. The author thinks, the application demonstrates four characteristics of emergency, temporariness, restriction and equity, and it can balance the trade freedom and protection, balance the flexibility and fix of WTO rules, balance WTO members' rights and obligations, and balance WTO members?...