Current status of tariff liberalization under regional trade agreements and the implications for the clarification of the discipline of GATT Article XXIV (Japanese)

This paper analyzes, with regard to regional trade agreements for trade in goods, the direction of the clarification of the discipline of future regional trade agreements, doing so by comparing the current discipline relating to consistency with the WTO and the debate that surrounds it, with the current status of the liberalization of tariffs under regional trade agreements. When regional trade agreements for trade in goods between developed countries or between developed countries and developing countries are concluded, based upon Article XXIV of the GATT they should eliminate duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce on "substantially all the trade within a reasonable length of time," and should not raise tariffs or other barriers to trade with regard to countries outside the region. However, the definitions of phrases such as "substantially all the trade" are not stated expressly. In addition, regional trade agreements between developing countries are regulated only as agreements on the mutual reduction or elimination of tariffs and non-tariff measures in enabling clauses, and do not impose any conditions for the elimination of tariffs for "substantially all the trade" or "within a reasonable length of time" as defined in Article XXIV of the GATT. In addition to the lack of clarity as regards the requirements in regional trade agreements relating to consistency with the GATT, the screening by the WTO of regional trade agreements that have been concluded could not be said to be functioning adequately. Amid the persistence of this uncertainty as to the discipline of regional trade agreements and how it is applied, the conclusion of such agreements is currently increasing in number. In order to avoid a flood of unregulated regional trade agreements, discussion of their discipline is underway within the rules negotiations in the WTO Doha Round, but there has been no convergence in the discussion of the conditions referred to above. This paper sets out the discussions to date in the WTO and other forums over intraregional conditions with regard to regional trade agreements, such as "substantially all the trade" and "within a reasonable length of time" in relation to tariffs. Then, with regard to major regional trade agreements already concluded and in effect, it verifies the current situation as regards the liberalization of tariffs in regional trade agreements from the viewpoint of conformity with these conditions. Conducting this empirical analysis enables me to study the impact that the state of tariff liberalization in regional trade agreements is having on the discussion about the clarification of discipline in the WTO rules negotiations, and to identify clues as to the future direction of the discussion at the WTO and proposals for disciplines that could realistically lead to agreement.