Research On The GATT Security Exception Clause

The current international security situation presents complex and diverse features,and national security issues are highly valued.Article 21 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT)has attracted much attention as an exception clause to protect the basic security interests of the members.This provision gives members the right to take action to protect their essential security interests in exceptional circumstances at their own discretion.During the GATT and WTO periods,a series of problems were found in the dispute settlement practice involving the GATT security exception clause.Including disputes over the exercise of the right of self-determination in the clause,whether non-traditional security interests belong to the scope of essential security interests,and the arbitrary expansion of the scope of application of the security exception clause by some members.Referring to the report of the panel of the "Russia — Measures Concerning Traffic in Transit".The above problems are mainly attributed to the text of the security exception clause: First,the ambiguity of specific concepts in the security exception clause,including the ambiguity of the connotation of essential security interests and the ambiguity of the scope of war or other emergency situations in international relations.Second,the absence of the principle of the right of self-judgment.Third,the absence of the principle of the right of self-judgment.The third is the absence of objective criteria for members’ actions.For deserving the problems of Article 21 of GATT : we should clarify the connotation of traditional essential security interests,reasonably cover non-traditional essential security interests into traditional security interests,clarify the meaning of war or other emergency situations in international relations,specify the scope of war types and other emergency in international relation;and determine the objective criteria for members’ actions;the principle of the good faith is applied throughout the process of exercising the right of self-determination and defending by invoking the security exception clause.