文化例外：從談判原則到締約實踐

Cultural Exception: From Negotiation Principle to Treaty Practices

文化例外是歐共體、加拿大長期奉行的一種思想理念、談判原則，它深刻影響了國際貿易規則的制定。由於美國極力反對，世界貿易組織（WTO）協定中沒有“文化例外”的明文規則，但視聽產品的特殊待遇事實上在世貿組織規則中得到部分實現。進入21世紀後，法國、加拿大推動聯合國教科文組織（UNESCO）建立《文化多樣性公約》，為“文化例外”提供國際法支撐。歐共體、加拿大還在其區域貿易協定中根據“文化例外”原則，明確將視聽業或文化產業排除在貿易協定範圍之外；美國則在其雙邊自貿協定中推進電子商務規則制定，把數字化視聽產品納入規制範圍。中國在參與制定相關國際貿易和投資規則時，應立足本國國情，借鑒“文化例外”的成功經驗，在此基礎上提出中國方案。

This article examined the origin of cultural exception as a negotiation principle and its historical development in the international trade law, focusing on how this conception impacted upon the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in the World Trade Organization and other international trade agreements. Due to the strong objection of the United States, there is not any explicit rule on cultural exception in the WTO agreements. Since the end of Uruguay Round negotiations, both the European Communities and Canada have been excluding the audiovisual services and cultural industry from their bilateral and regional trade agreement respectively, while the United States has advanced the digital audiovisual services liberalization through building upon the rules on electronic commerce in its bilateral free trade agreements. In the author’s view, the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity underpins the practices of cultural excep on in the international rule-making, even in the case of digital environment. The author finally argues that China can follow the practices of cultural exception in an appropriate way when participating in making international trade rules, in order to preserve the Chinese cultural identity and the country’s cultural security during the opening up process.