GATT 예외조항의 적용 범위

Before the WTO was launched, trade in goods was governed by the GATT alone. However, after the WTO took into force, the GATT became one of “trade in goods” agreements of Annex 1-A of the WTO Agreement. Since there is no exception clause covering the whole WTO agreement, it is an important matter whether the GATT exception clauses could be applied to goods agreements beyond the GATT. This article analysed that the GATT exception provisions, in particular Articles 20 and 24, could be resorted to justify measures under the other non-GATT agreements. There can be three categories. First, agreements which state explicitly that GATT exceptions are applied to them. Examples are TRIMS and Agreement on Trade Facilitation. Second, the characteristics of the agreements show whether GATT exceptions are applied. Examples are the Safeguard agreement or the SPS/TBT agreements which clarified GATT provisions. Thirdly, in most cases where the relationship between agreements are unclear, there should be a case-by-case approach about the specific relationship between the provision at issue and GATT exception clauses. The WTO jurisprudence that there should be a specific link showing that GATT exception clauses are incorporated into the provision at issue. This article showed that the desirable way is the amendment of the WTO agreements through the ongoing negotiations. Till the way is to be realized, it is necessary not to set a strict criterion for conditions of the GATT exception applicability. The reasons are that there is no reason to discriminate between goods and services and to set a hierarchy among goods agreements and among accession protocols. In addition, if the scope of Article 24 of GATT applicability is narrowly interpreted, numerous FTA measures in reality are found to violate the WTO Agreements.