TBT 협정 제2.4조의 ‘국제표준 완성의 임박’에 대한 소고

Article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement requires the use of relevant international standards as a basis for technical regulations if “relevant international standards exist or their completion is imminent”. However, the interpretation of the expression “their completion is imminent” has never been disputed in the WTO. As article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement affects the interpretation of other WTO agreements, this paper examined how to interpret other WTO agreements. In order to prevent non-tariff barriers which caused unnecessary obstacles to international trade, the emergence of the expression "their completion is imminent" was needed after the Kennedy Round. After reviewing the Motorola/JR case, my analysis goes to other WTO agreements which refer to international standards. SPS Agreement, Preshipment Agreement, GATS, Trade Facilitation Agreement are the representative agreements that have similar provisions like article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement. However, other than TBT agreement and SPS agreement, it is difficult to apply the circumstances because the other agreements are basically composed of endeavor clauses. The expression “their completion is imminent” is centered on the issue of harmony through international standards based on not only existing international standards but also on international standards that are imminent. After Kennedy Round, the elimination of non-tariff barriers was common concern of most of the contracting parties. It suffices to say that the phrase “their completion is imminent” was born with this historical background and we need to remember the strong will of the drafters to remove non-tariff barriers.