WTO服務貿易區域整合協定規範體系爭議之檢討──坎昆會議後之展望

Abstract

區域貿易協定之規範體制檢討係「杜哈發展議程回合」談判下，有關規則談判的\r\n議題之一。根據杜哈發展議程宣言，「此談判旨在澄清並改進WTO 現行適用於區域貿\r\n易協定之規定的規範及程序」。WTO 有關RTAs 規範之法律爭議，向來困擾WTO 區域\r\n貿易協定委員會（CRTA）之運作，致該委員會自1995 年成立以來，無法完成任一RTAs\r\n之審查，而功能淪喪。面對幾乎所有WTO 會員都投身於、或亟思於RTAs 締結的時代，\r\n如何儘速釐清相關法律條文適用之爭議，俾相關條文得以發揮捍衛多邊貿易體系之作\r\n用，以降低坎昆部長會議失敗後區域貿易協定過度發展對多邊貿易自由化進展之戕\r\n害，實乃刻不容緩之課題。\r\n鑑於現代RTAs 中皆有服務貿易之面向，但此方面之規範研究卻遠少於貨品貿易\r\n部分之討論，故本專題計畫針對上述RTAs 規範談判中之服務貿易經濟整合（EIAs）\r\n部分進行研究。藉著分析杜哈會議後「規則談判小組」在改進EIAs（或RTAs 之服務\r\n貿易面向）規範體系方面的談判進展，檢討可能釐清GATS V 各條款間關係之方式以\r\n及對於GATS V 規定中特定文字可能採納之闡釋，以做為我國參與本回合規則談判之\r\n參考以及檢討他國EIAs 是否符合WTO 規範之依據。

Systemic issues of the regional trade agreements are subject to the Doha\r\nDevelopment Agenda (DDA) round of negotiation under the subject of “Rules Negotiation”.\r\nThe Declaration of the Doha Development Agenda mandates clarification and improvement\r\nof “disciplines and procedures under the existing WTO provisions applying to regional\r\ntrade agreements.” Interpreting the wording of WTO RTAs disciplines has proved\r\ncontroversial, and has been a central element in the work of the Regional Trade Agreements\r\nCommittee. As a result, since 1995 the committee has failed to complete its assessments of\r\nwhether individual trade agreements conform to WTO provisions. This is now an important\r\nchallenge, particularly when nearly all member governments are parties to regional\r\nagreements, are negotiating them, or are considering negotiating them. How to clarify and\r\nimprove the RTA rules so that they can be operative is essential to mitigating the negative\r\nimpact caused to the multilateral trading system by the prevalence of RTAs and failure of\r\nCancun Ministerial, the mid-term review of the DDA.\r\nGiven that almost all modern RTAs have service trade dimension, but the studies on\r\nthis dimension are much less than those on the goods trade dimension of RTAs. This study\r\ntherefore places its focus on the current DDA rules negotiations for GATS V disciplines on\r\nEconomic Integration Arrangements (EIAs). It analyzes the negotiations held in the\r\nNegotiating Groups on Rules for EIAs disciplines improvements. Examining the possible\r\nclarification and improvement can be brought to the EIAs disciplines, this study may serve\r\nas the basis for Taiwan to take part in the aforementioned negotiations or to challenge the\r\nWTO-consistency of EIAs entered into by other WTO members.