聯合國教科文組織於二○○五年十月二十日通過文化多樣性公約。從談判歷史觀之，「文化多樣性」似乎是歐盟會員國於烏拉圭回合時在GATS下倡議「文化例外」之延續，也因此公約通過後，主張貿易自由化之一方擔心公約將限制貿易，而與GATS產生衝突；另一方面，主張文化保護之一方則認為公約可助其在GATS下續行推動「文化例外」，亦即將視聽服務排除GATS之適用。
本文研究之目的係在探討文化多樣性公約對於GATS視聽服務之影響。首先，本文就文化多樣性公約下的重要規定進行研析，並以視聽服務為論述核心，探討公約與GATS間的可能衝突。在綜合考量規範衝突及談判現況後，本文最後試評估公約對於GATS視聽服務之影響，並提出對未來視聽服務談判之展望。
公約下的義務，由於締約國在履行上多保有裁量權，解釋上尚難構成貿易限制或具歧視性；另一方面由於GATS規範極具彈性，WTO會員國本不負絕對的特定承諾義務。依此，公約與GATS發生衝突發生之可能性並不大。至於公約的權利規定，或有違反GATS義務之虞，惟由於締約國可選擇不行使公約權利而履行GATS義務，因此公約權利與GATS義務的衝突得以事先避免。
由於公約對GATS之衝擊有限，再加上公約將可提供一個文化議題協商之平台，公約或可紓解WTO會員國對於文化保護之關切，進而摒除彼等國家在GATS下基於文化保護而不願開放之疑慮。依此，本文研判公約對於GATS視聽服務自由化將是助力，有助於視聽服務談判之進行。鑒於GATS下並無文化一般例外以調和兩套規範，本文建議未來在WTO下可透過增訂「部長決議」，要求WTO會員國於解釋並適用GATS規定時應將公約之相關規定列入考量，俾達成公約與GATS間相互支持之目標。 / On 20 October 2005, the UNESCO General Conference approved the “Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.” Judging by the negotiating history, “cultural diversity” appears to be the continuation of “cultural exception” invoked by the European Communities under the GATS negotiations during the Uruguay Round. Therefore, after the Convention is approved, free trade supporters worry that the convention might restrict trade and conflict with the GATS rules. On the other hand, cultural protectionists argue that the Convention has merits in moving forward “cultural exception,” i.e. to prohibit the application of the GATS rules on the audiovisual services.
The objective of the thesis is to analyze the impact of the Convention on the audiovisual services under the GATS. The thesis first studies the rules under the Convention and discusses potential conflicts between the Convention and the GATS in terms of audiovisual services. Considering both the conflicts of norms and current negotiations, the thesis attempts to assess the impact of the Convention on the audiovisual services and forecast the future of negotiations on the audiovisual services under the GATS.
The obligations of the Convention may not be easy to be interpreted as trade restrictions or discriminations because States Parties can mostly reserve their rights to perform. On the other hand, GATS rules is so flexible that WTO Members need not make specific commitments under the GATS. Accordingly, the possibility of conflicts is not high. Though the rights of the Convention might be contradictory to the obligations of the GATS, States Parties can choose to perform their obligations of the GATS rather than exercise their rights of the Convention in order to preclude the existence of the conflicts.
The Convention only has limited impact on the GATS. In addition, the Convention provides a forum of negotiations on cultural issues so that it might smooth over WTO Member’s concern with cultural protection and remove their doubts of liberalization on the basis of cultural protection. Judging from this, the Convention can give a boost to the liberalization of audiovisual services and facilitate the negotiations. In light of the fact that there is no general exception clauses of cultural protection under the GATS to harmonize the two international instruments, this thesis suggests that “Ministerial Decision” be adopted to request WTO Members to take relevant rules of the Convention into consideration when interpreting and applying the GATS rules in order to achieve the goal of mutual supportiveness between the Convention and the GATS.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CHENGCHI/G0923510091 |
| Creators | 賴志倫, Lai, Chih-Lun |
| Publisher | 國立政治大學 |
| Source Sets | National Chengchi University Libraries |
| Language | 中文 |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Rights | Copyright © nccu library on behalf of the copyright holders |
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