Exceptions and Regulatory Autonomy

This chapter provides a comparative overview of exceptions commonly included in Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). After some brief reflections on the role of exceptions in trade agreements (section 1), the chapter analyses agreement-wide exceptions found in most PTAs, considering general exceptions provisions (section 2), security exceptions (section 3) and taxation exceptions (section 4). Common exceptions for confidential information and for balance of payments difficulties are also briefly addressed (section 5). The chapter then analyses more novel agreement-wide exceptions that are only found in certain PTAs, considering exceptions for cultural issues (section 6.1) and exceptions for measures concerning a party’s indigenous peoples (section 6.2). Overall, the chapter demonstrates that there has been an evolution in the approach to exceptions in PTAs, with contemporary agreements often including significant variations on (or clarifications to) the exceptions found in World Trade Organization-covered agreements and exceptions with no direct equivalent at the multilateral level.