梁意:对外经济贸易大学法学院博士生,美利坚大学富布赖特联合培养博士生。主要研究方向:国际经济法。
D996.1
作为国际规则制定的重要参与者,近年来中国与其贸易伙伴签订了一些具有“超WTO”(WTO-plus)和“WTO额外”(WTO-extra)条款的FTA,本文把之称为新一代中外FTA。这些“超WTO”和“WTO额外”条款的出现和增多引起了一定的担忧,例如知识产权领域的某些“超WTO”条款可能会对公共健康的保护产生负面影响。在分析这些条款可能带来的不良影响之前,不妨先分析其强制执行力。一个条约条款要具备强制执行力,往往需要通过实体标准测试和程序标准测试,即在实体上要具备有约束力的条约用语以及关于权利和/或义务的清晰明确的规定,在程序上该条款项下产生的争端可以被诉诸争端解决机制。新一代中国FTA中,货物贸易、服务贸易和知识产权领域均有“超WTO”条款。这些条款有的由于不通过实体标准测试而不具强制执行力,有的则因没通过程序标准测试而不具强制执行力。鉴于很多“超WTO”(尤其是敏感领域)的相关条款不能被强制执行,大家无需过于担忧其带来的负面影响。在实施一些较有争议且具有强制执行力的“超WTO”规则时,中国要注意不违反其WTO义务和其他国际义务。
As an important participant in international rule making, China has concluded some Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which include WTO-plus and WTO-extra provisions with its trading partners. These FTAs with WTO-plus and WTO-extra provisions are called the “new generation of Chinese FTAs”. The emergence and increasing number of these WTO-plus and WTO-extra provisions have raised many concerns among the world. For instance, some WTO-plus provisions in the field of intellectual property may have negative effects on the protection of public health. Before we move on to the discussion of the negative effects these provisions may bring about, we can analyze their legal enforceability. In order to be a legally enforceable treaty provision, it usually needs to pass both substantive test and procedural test, i.e., there should be binding term and clearly defined right and/or obligation in this provision in terms of substantive standard, and this provision should be subject to dispute settlement mechanism in terms of procedural standard. In the new generation of Chinese FTAs, there are WTO-plus provisions in the areas of trade in goods, trade in service and intellectual property. Some of these WTO-plus provisions are not legally enforceable due to not passing the substantive test while others are due to not passing the procedural test. Since many WTO-plus provisions(especially those provisions in sensitive fields)are not legally enforceable, we do not need to over-worry about the negative effects they may bring about. When implementing some controversial and legally enforceable WTO-plus rules, China should be careful not to violate its WTO obligations and other international obligations.
梁意.论新一代中外自贸协定中的“超WTO”条款及其强制执行力[J].上海对外经贸大学学报,2017,(6):16-29.
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