Escape Clauses under WTO: Complementary or Contradictory to the Liberalisation of International Trade in Goods

Exceptions to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariff (GATT) allow members to intervene in the working mechanism of international trade rules by limiting full adherence to such rules under certain circumstances and conditions. The following discussion deals with selected examples of the GATT exceptions, which are the general exceptional restrictions, preferential trade agreements, quantitative restrictions, safeguard measures, subsidy measures and security measures. The limitations on subsidies are necessary to limit the support that countries, especially those with strong financial and economic positions, provide to their industries in breach of international trade liberalisation principles. Article XX of the GATT permits countries to restrict international trade in goods in different cases, such as to protect public morals, human, animal or plant life and health, and the environment. Article XIX authorises WTO members to safeguard their national industries from the flow of certain imported goods in special circumstances.