Public Morality and International Trade

Tension Between the Defense of Public Morality and the Rules of International Trade

Abstract

The task of defining the meaning of public morality within the internal scope of a country is difficult to attain given the vagueness of its terms and diverse interpretations that are possible. However, such a task becomes extremely difficult when one thinks of defining the same concept from the standpoint of multilateral rules of international trade. In this sense, I intend to present to the reader a consistent interpretation to be made out of the exception of public morality within the multilateral trading system, specifically in relation to its most important instrument, the GATT. Thus, the work is divided into three parts. The first one briefly presents the GATT, its historical timeline, main objectives, principle and obligations, and then deal with the concept and importance of derogations from these obligations. The second part explores the exception for public morality, with a general presentation of the institute and its main interpretive currents, named as maximalist and minimalist. The third part studies concrete cases in which the Organ of Dispute Settlement of the WTO was asked to decide on the subject, as well as the requirement of necessity imposed to measures that sustain to defend the public morality. Finally, I intend to demonstrate the best technical precision adopted by the minimalist thesis, nevertheless presenting considerations that, in my view, can meet the pretensions exposed by the adherents of the maximalist theory.