Regulation Of The Wto On Exports Restrictions

The regulations on export restriction under the WTO legal framework are much more insufficient than those on import restriction. However, at the time of global financial crisis and industrial reconstruction combined with the increasing international consumption of resources and the needs of national economic performance, it is necessary and urgent to study and find out a way of establishing an effective and reasonable system to regulate export restrictions. The research is of far-reaching practical significance and will consequently impose a positive effect on international business activities.This paper is divided into four chapters:Starting from the WTO rules, in the first chapter, the author briefly introduces the legal framework of export restrictions under WTO system. There are provisions related to export restrictions in GATT, TRIMS and other documents. Article XI under GATT1994 urges all its members to remove all quantitative restrictions on imports and exports. As one kind of quantitative restrictions, export restrictions should be prohibited in principle. But Article XX and other provisions of GATT provide the legal basis for the WTO members to conduct export restrictions.In the second chapter, based on the study of the export legal system of selected members of WTO such as the USA and the EU, the author introduces some main export restrictions adopted within WTO members. Export restrictions are often applied to raw materials, rare materials, agricultural products and other specific goods. The commonly adopted export restrictions are export taxes, export quotas, export licensing, the minimum export price. China's WTO accession commitments on export restrictions not only provide guidance to China's domestic legislation, law enforcement and judicial practice, but also to the interpretation of China's policies and measures on export restrictions.In order to better understand and analyze export restrictions, in the third chapter, the author studies the respective provisions of China's WTO accession protocol and working group reports.In the last chapter, the author analyzes the WTO dispute cases related to China. One is the Coke case between EU and China in 2004. The other case focus on the export restrictions imposed on raw materials of China which is now pending under the process of WTO dispute settlement procedure. The parties involved are USA, EU, Mexico, China and other WTO members. Based on comprehensive and deep analysis of the above two cases, the author puts forward her personal opinion regarding the solution of the raw materials case on behalf of China.