The Application Of The Principle Of Good Faith In The Interpretation Of GATT Security Exception Clause

Security exception clause plays an important role in balancing the multilateral trading system and national security.However,from the beginning of its design,it has ambiguity in text expression and self-determination in quotation,which leads to the ambiguity of scope of application and members’self-determination right,so it is likely to be abused.As a result,during the whole period of GATT and WTO,there are few successful cases of invoking security exception clause,and the abuse of security exception clause is increasing,which gradually becomes a means of trade sanctions and trade protection.If the security exception clause can’t be applied effectively,it will be abused by some countries and become a tool of trade protectionism.In the long run,it will cause members to impose trade sanctions on each other by using security exception clause,and exclude the jurisdiction of WTO on related disputes,which will bring great negative impact on the whole WTO system.In order to apply the security exception clause successfully,it is necessary to interpret the security exception clause effectively.At present,the only case to interpret the security exception clause is "Russia-Ukraine embargo case".As the first case to interpret the security exception clause in the history of WTO,its importance is self-evident.The main value of this case is to clarify the WTO’s right to review the security exception clause,so as to establish the jurisdiction of the dispute settlement body on related disputes.In order to limit the security exception clause,the panel creatively introduced the principle of good faith,and created a new idea to interpret and apply the security exception clause.In order to prevent the abuse of the security exception clause,this paper analyzes the handling ideas of this case,and studies the specific role of the principle of good faith in the "Russia-Ukraine embargo case",as well as the limitations of the principle of good faith in this case.We should extract the idea of this case as a new way to deal with related disputes in the future,give better play to the function of "safety valve" of security exception clause,and improve the stability of the international multilateral trading system.The first part of this paper mainly analyzes the basic situation of security exception clause.It also points out that there are two kinds of ambiguity of the security exception clause,they are the ambiguities of members’ right to selfdetermination and the scope of application.The second part will analyze the abuse problem caused by the ambiguity of the security exception clause,and explain the specific situation of the abuse of the security exception clause by introducing the cases that GATT and WTO failed to apply the security exception clause.The abuse of security exception clause will hinder the application of security exception clause in the future,and hurt the whole WTO system.The third part is the core content of this paper.This part first analyzes the principle of good faith,starting from article 31 of the Vienna convention on the law of treaties,and briefly introduces scholars’ views on the principle of good faith.Then,combined with other treaty interpretation methods stipulated in article 31 of the Vienna convention on the law of treaties,it explains the role of good faith interpretation in the whole process of treaty interpretation,and through the analysis of the "American shrimp case" to explain the role of the principle of good faith in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.In the second half of this part,it first introduces the successful case of using the principle of good faith to explain the security exception clause-"Russia-Ukraine embargo case".This paper analyzes the judgment thinking of "Russia-Ukraine embargo case" and the embodiment of the principle of good faith in the case.The last part is on the premise of the previous discussion,from the attitude towards the security exception clause,as well as specific to the dispute settlement procedures and other angles,to put forward some suggestions for the future application of the security exception clause through the principle of good faith.