WTO各法律文件均含有大量的例外条款,其数量和种类之多是其他国际条约所罕见的。而服务贸易总协定(GATS)作为其中一项重要的协议,作为调整服务贸易的第一个多边性协议,其本身特点也决定了例外条款存在的不可避免性。其实,例外条款在任何国际法部门中都是存在的,只不过在WTO多边贸易体制,尤其是在GATS中显得比较突出。在多边服务贸易自由化目标和特定国内公共政策目标之间,尤其是隐藏其后的国家利益关系中,例外条款总是起着一种重要的平衡作用。对于进入后WTO时代最大的发展中国家,特别是进一步全面开放服务贸易领域的中国来说,善于并合法援引GATS的例外条款对于保障我国服务贸易领域的利益具有重大的意义。 WTO legal documents contain a large number of exceptions, many of which are rare in other international treaties. GATS, as one of the most important agreements, as the first multilateral agreement to adjust trade in services, also determines the inevitable existence of the exception clauses. In fact, the exception clauses exist in any international law department, except for the multilateral trade system of the WTO, especially in GATS. In the multilateral service trade liberalization goals and specific domestic public policy goals, especially in hiding the subsequent national interest relations, the exception clause has always played an important balance. For China, the largest developing country after WTO accession, especially China to further liberalize the service trade, the exception clause that is good at and lawfully invoking GATS is of great significance to safeguarding the interests of China’s service trade.