Systemic Fatigue in the WTO Regime: The Case with Trade, Security and Technological Transition

Abstract

The security exception provisions in the WTO are barely amended from the original GATT text written in 1947, while external conditions surrounding the current trading regime have gone through revolutionary transformation. Especially given ongoing technological transition to another level of digitalization, the scope of national security interests and types of measures to secure global stability envisaged in new trade agreements are quickly evolving further away from the traditional sense.

This paper analyzes legal limitations and systemic challenges of security exception provisions based on their historical evolution and recent WTO case law in Russian Federation – Measures Concerning Traffic in Transit. The paper further aims to examine legal coherence and remaining challenges of balancing trade and security interests in a hyper-connected world, driven by emergence of disruptive technologies. As the paradigm shift is happening in and out of the real and virtual world, the paper emphasizes that the reconstruction of an inclusive multilateral trading order through legal restructuring and institutional reform is crucial than ever.