Analisis Of Applicable Principles And Difficulties Of Additional Health Measures

Facing with the COVID-19 Pandemic,many countries have taken plenty excessive restrictions on international trade and traffic.Although these measures can prevent the infectious diseases in a short period of time,the impact on international trade and economy would be huge.And ultimately,it would exacerbate the damage to the global society.Therefore,the International Health Regulations(2005)(hereinafter “Regulation”)specially stipulates "additional health measures" in Article 43 to regulate the member states who takes the excessive trade restrictions.However,member states often violate this provision and the effected states would rather seek resolution to WTO mechanism than the WHO one when they need.For instance,during the Ebola outbreak,WHO has repeatedly stressed that the prohibition of air traffic,restrictions on tourism and commercial activities cannot stop the spread of the virus,but harm to the economic development.But still,almost all large commercial airlines stopped flights to West Africa.As for today’s COVID-19 Pandemic,WHO does not mention any recommendations that other countries should consider taking restrictive measures on international travel and trade,but some countries still take the personnel and trade blockage to China.As the only international public health agreement to regulate preventing and controlling the spread of infectious diseases,the Regulation is of great significance.Hence,it is very important to fully guarantee the implementation of Article 43,avoiding unnecessary interference with international trade while protecting public health.Also,as the WTO mechanism is not that effective to resolve the problems of infectious diseases,it is important to follow the “additional health measure”mechanism regulated in the Regulation.At present,there are plenty of scholar studies how to balance international trade and public health through the WTO view but lack of the perspective of WHO’s mechanism.Also,there are few related monographs about the “additional health measures” mechanism.By comparing WTO and WHO,this paper provides suggestions for the improvement of the Regulation,and by comparing with other arbitration rules of PCA,figuring out how to solve the problems of "additional health measures".This article will take COVID-19 Pandemic as the background,focusing on how to reduce the infringement of international trade and traffic through the global health prevention and control perspective.The article 43 of the "Regulations" would be discussed in detail,stressing that the member states should follow the principle of proportionality and relevant procedural provisions when taking measures to restrict trade and traffic.This paper proceeds as follows.The introduction stresses out the member states who have adopted excessive restrictions on international trade and transportation violate the mechanism of "additional health measures".It also briefly provides an overview of various public health measures regulated under the Regulation.In the first chapter,considering previous experience in the outbreak of influenza H1N1 Influenza and Ebola outbreak,as well as the practice of COVID-19 countries,it points out the plights of the "additional health measures" mechanism.Also,it analyzes article 43 to show how the member states should take“additional health measures” according to the substantive principles,procedural rules and dispute resolution methods.Chapter 2 attempts to explore the possible reasons behind the challenges of the “additional health measures” mechanism.Chapter 3 would discuss the necessity to improve the mechanism of "additional health measures",and give the suggestions.The end of this article would give conclusion.