從GATT到WTO.doc

Task 5From GATT to WTO- The Institutionalization of World Trade(Part One )從GATT到WTO世界貿(mào)易的制度化(第一部分)Over the past few decades, a system of relatively open exchange, particularly in merchandise trade, has prevailed in the world under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Today, most economists acknowledge this trading system as one of the greatest contributors to the worlds rapid recovery from the desolation of the Second World War, and to the phenomenal growth in the world output thereafter. Through all of those years, however, GATT has served its contracting parties through a loose and informal structure, with all the inevitable problems that accompany a weak and ill-defined authority. With the passage of the Uruguay Round of trade talks, this trading system is poised to take on a new shape in a permanent institution known as the World Trade Organization (WTO). Although much skepticism and controversy have surrounded the birth of WTO, it is the hope of all free-traders that the new WTO will be able to amend what went amiss with GATT.過去的幾十年里，受益于關(guān)稅及貿(mào)易總協(xié)定（GATT）的保護(hù)，整個世界，特別是貨物貿(mào)易，都處于一個相對開放的貿(mào)易體系中。今天，大多數(shù)經(jīng)濟學(xué)家都認(rèn)為，世界經(jīng)濟之所以從二戰(zhàn)的蕭條中迅速恢復(fù)以及世界出口總量猛漲，這一貿(mào)易體系做出了重大貢獻(xiàn)。然而,這些年來,GATT是以一種松散、非正式的結(jié)構(gòu)服務(wù)各締約國,其權(quán)威較小且定義模糊，因此不可避免的產(chǎn)生許多問題。隨著烏拉圭回合貿(mào)易談判的成功,這一交易體系準(zhǔn)備以一種全新的、永久性的機構(gòu)形式呈現(xiàn)，即世界貿(mào)易組織(WTO)。對于成立WTO，盡管懷疑和爭議不斷,但所有自由貿(mào)易的倡議者都希望新成立的WTO能夠彌補GATT的不足的。A Brief History of Trade貿(mào)易簡史At the beginning of the nineteenth century, economists began to make advances in interpreting why human beings had always engaged in economic exchange. The theory of comparative advantage posited that countries specialize in those goods and services that they produce more efficiently relative to other countries. When nations concentrate their production on commodities in which they have a comparative advantage, consumers as a whole benefit from lower prices and a greater range of consumption possibilities. Because each good is produced by the country that is best at producing it, scarce world resources are allocated efficiently. Like all economic activities, the distribution of the benefits of trade is not uniform; yet in general and in the long run, trade leads to a more optimal economic outcome with greater competition and greater productivity - a rising tide on which all boats float.十九世紀(jì)初,經(jīng)濟學(xué)家在解釋人類為什么會一直從事經(jīng)濟交易方面取得進(jìn)展。比較優(yōu)勢理論設(shè)定,國家應(yīng)該專門生產(chǎn)相較于其他國家更具有優(yōu)勢的商品和服務(wù)。當(dāng)國家集中生產(chǎn)有比較優(yōu)勢的商品時,整體說來，消費者能夠從低價以及一系列消費優(yōu)惠中受益。因為商品都由最擅長生產(chǎn)該商品的國家生產(chǎn)，稀缺資源能夠在世界范圍內(nèi)有效分配。和其他所有經(jīng)濟活動一樣，貿(mào)易受益分配也并不是統(tǒng)一的。但是，從整體上以及長遠(yuǎn)來看，由于競爭更加激烈、生產(chǎn)率提高，貿(mào)易會帶來更有益的經(jīng)濟效益水漲了所有船都會升高。In 1947, such a view of the benefits of international cooperation inspired a group of visionaries gathered in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to erect a new economic world order from the ravages of the Second World War. The Bretton Woods Accords, which celebrated their fiftieth anniversary last year, established the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and led to the creation of GATT. These structures, albeit not always true to the visionary spirit in which they were founded, have formed the underpinnings of world economic development for the past half century.1947年，這種全球合作能帶來利益的觀點激發(fā)了一群有遠(yuǎn)見卓識的人聚集在新罕布什爾州的布雷頓森林，重建二戰(zhàn)后新的世界經(jīng)濟秩序。根據(jù)布雷頓森林協(xié)定，建立了世界銀行和國際貨幣基金組織，并促成了GATT，今年恰好是雷頓森林協(xié)定確立第50周年。這些結(jié)構(gòu)框架雖然并不總是與其當(dāng)初成立時的精神相符，但在過去半個世紀(jì)里，卻為世界經(jīng)濟的發(fā)展奠定了基礎(chǔ)。GATT has become the framework for international trade in our time. The body was formed as an interim secretariat for trade negotiations after the United States, bowing to protectionist sentiment, refused to ratify the charter of the stillborn International Trade Organization, a full-fledged institution of the stature of the World Bank and the IMF.如今，GATT已成為國際貿(mào)易的框架。但是在成立之初，GATT只充當(dāng)美國在貿(mào)易談判中的臨時秘書處的角色，屈從于貿(mào)易保護(hù)思潮，拒絕批準(zhǔn)當(dāng)時尚未成立的國際貿(mào)易組織章程，這一組織后來成為和世界銀行、國際貨幣基金組織有相同地位的成熟機構(gòu)。Based in Geneva and currently encompassing over 120 contracting parties, GATT has acted as a conduit for multilateral negotiations on a variety of international trade issues, including tariff and quota policy and trading practices. It has sponsored several rounds of protracted, though eventually fruitful, trade talks where contracting parties gathered to hammer out the details of the set of rules governing economic exchange. GATT panels make recommendations on changes in trade regulations and review complaints against contracting parties.GATT總部位于日內(nèi)瓦，目前擁有超過120個締約國，自成立以來一直為一系列國際貿(mào)易事務(wù)開展多邊談判提供一個平臺，包括關(guān)稅和配額政策以及貿(mào)易實踐等。同時，GATT還發(fā)起過多輪周期長但成果頗豐的貿(mào)易談判，各締約國一起協(xié)商制定出經(jīng)濟交流規(guī)制的細(xì)節(jié)。GATT同時也為各締約國提供貿(mào)易規(guī)則變更方面的建議并審查針對各締約國的申訴。Despite GATT success in coordinating international trade policy, it must be remembered that GATT is only an interim body without a fully-defined institutional structure and with little legal enforcement power. For instance, many loopholes exist in the mechanism dealing with disputes regarding unfair trade practices. If a country complains of unfair trading practices on the part of another country and a GATT panel concurs with the complaint, the accused country can dissent from the finding, effectively vetoing it and preventing the complaining country from retaliation within the GATT framework. Another increasingly popular way of doing business in an extra-GATT environment is through the creation of regional trade blocs, such as the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the impending Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) free trade agreements. These regional agreements, in effect, set their own rules of trade, encouraging cooperative exchange within a bloc but hinting of protectionism against countries outside the region. Non-tariff trade barriers (NTBs), such as a German requirement that, for health reasons, beer sold in Germany be made in German water, are also another device for bending GATT policy through these regional trading arrangements is to manipulate the rules of origin stipulation. By raising the requirement of local content value, aspiring profiteers and vested interests can turn an ostensible reduction in a tariff into an actual increase by subjting formally tariff-exempt goods to duties, thus circumventing the GATT guideline that for any free trade agreements the new common external tariff be no higher than the average tariff of the constituent states before the accord. Without any institutional framework or legal authority, the most that GATT can do, when confronted with such adroit legerdemain with its regulations, is to urge and exhort a spirit of cooperation among contracting parties, each of whom has an individual incentive to cater to local interests by eschewing a rule here and raising a protectionist wall there.盡管GATT在協(xié)調(diào)國際貿(mào)易政策中發(fā)揮不小的作用，但作為一個臨時機構(gòu)，GATT沒有詳細(xì)定義的體制結(jié)構(gòu)，法律執(zhí)行力也微乎其微。例如，在處理不公正貿(mào)易行為爭端的體制方面存在許多漏洞。如果一個國家投訴另一個國家實施了不正當(dāng)貿(mào)易行為，并且GATT專家組同意該投訴，被訴方可以不同意裁決，并通過GATT框架對投訴方進(jìn)行有效否決并阻止其進(jìn)行報復(fù)。越過GATT環(huán)境，建立區(qū)域貿(mào)易集團的商業(yè)模式也越發(fā)普遍，比如：歐盟（EU）、北美自由貿(mào)易協(xié)定（NAFTA）、即將成立的東南亞國家聯(lián)盟（ASEAN）自由貿(mào)易協(xié)定。實際上，這些區(qū)域性協(xié)定各自制定貿(mào)易規(guī)則，鼓勵集團內(nèi)的合作交流，但對區(qū)域外國家實行貿(mào)易保護(hù)主義。非關(guān)稅貿(mào)易壁壘（NTBs）通過區(qū)域貿(mào)易協(xié)定控制規(guī)則制定，也是歪曲GATT政策的一種手段。例如，德國有一項規(guī)定，出于健康原因，在國內(nèi)銷售的啤酒要用德國水釀造。關(guān)貿(mào)總協(xié)定規(guī)定：對于所有自由貿(mào)易協(xié)定，共同對外新稅率不得高于簽訂協(xié)議前構(gòu)成國的平均稅率。欲壑難填的投機商和既得利益者通過對當(dāng)?shù)睾績r值提出要求，對按規(guī)定免稅的商品進(jìn)行征稅。這樣表面上關(guān)稅降低，但實際上卻提高了關(guān)稅。通過這種手段規(guī)避了關(guān)貿(mào)總協(xié)定的規(guī)定。由于缺少體制框架和法律權(quán)威，當(dāng)遇到諸如此類肆意操弄協(xié)議規(guī)定時，關(guān)貿(mào)總協(xié)定所能做的就只剩敦促和勸告締約方秉承合作精神。為了保護(hù)地方利益，各締約則是心懷鬼胎，規(guī)避協(xié)定中的條例，并且在協(xié)定外的范圍內(nèi)建立貿(mào)易保護(hù)主義屏障。Seeking to address some of these problems, the Uruguay Round of negotiations was launched nearly nine years ago. Under the leadership of GATT Director-General Peter Sutherland, this latest round of talks has arrived at a consensus on implementing changes to the framework that will encourage greater openness and trade integration among the worlds nations. First and foremost, the Uruguay Round promises a lowering of trade barriers and a slashing of tariffs by an average of one-third. It broadens the scope of liberalization to include traditionally protected industries such as textiles and apparel. Reflecting the changing nature of world trade, the Uruguay Round will open up exchange in the previously closed but rapidly emerging areas of agriculture, services, and intellectual property. It imposes a new discipline on NTBs and governmen