GATT 1994 Article XXI

E354414

WTO law provision treaty provision

GATT 1994 Article XXI is the World Trade Organization provision that allows members to take trade-restrictive measures they consider necessary for the protection of their essential security interests.

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All labels observed (7)

Label	Occurrences
GATT 1994 Article XXI canonical	4
Article XXI of GATT 1994	1
Article XXI(b) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994	1
GATT 1994 Article XXI (Security Exceptions)	1
GATT 1994 Article XXI(b)(iii)	1
GATT 1994, Art. XXI	1
GATT Article XXI	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3379812 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: GATT 1994 Article XXI
Context triple: [Russia – Measures Concerning Traffic in Transit (DS512), coveredProvision, GATT 1994 Article XXI]

A. GATT Article XIX
GATT Article XIX is the safeguard provision in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade that allows countries to temporarily restrict imports to protect domestic industries from serious injury caused by sudden import surges.
B. GATT 1994 Article V
GATT 1994 Article V is a core WTO provision that guarantees freedom of transit for goods across members’ territories, prohibiting unjustified restrictions and discrimination in transit routes and charges.
C. Article XX of GATT 1994
Article XX of GATT 1994 is the general exceptions clause that allows WTO members to justify trade-restrictive measures that would otherwise violate GATT obligations, provided they meet specified conditions such as necessity and non-discrimination.
D. Article III of GATT 1994
Article III of GATT 1994 is a core provision of the WTO legal framework that establishes the national treatment obligation, requiring WTO members to treat imported products no less favorably than like domestic products in respect of internal taxation and regulation.
E. Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is the GATT provision that establishes the fundamental rules for determining the customs value of imported goods in international trade.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: GATT 1994 Article XXI
Target entity description: GATT 1994 Article XXI is the World Trade Organization provision that allows members to take trade-restrictive measures they consider necessary for the protection of their essential security interests.

A. GATT Article XIX
GATT Article XIX is the safeguard provision in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade that allows countries to temporarily restrict imports to protect domestic industries from serious injury caused by sudden import surges.
B. GATT 1994 Article V
GATT 1994 Article V is a core WTO provision that guarantees freedom of transit for goods across members’ territories, prohibiting unjustified restrictions and discrimination in transit routes and charges.
C. Article XX of GATT 1994
Article XX of GATT 1994 is the general exceptions clause that allows WTO members to justify trade-restrictive measures that would otherwise violate GATT obligations, provided they meet specified conditions such as necessity and non-discrimination.
D. Article III of GATT 1994
Article III of GATT 1994 is a core provision of the WTO legal framework that establishes the national treatment obligation, requiring WTO members to treat imported products no less favorably than like domestic products in respect of internal taxation and regulation.
E. Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is the GATT provision that establishes the fundamental rules for determining the customs value of imported goods in international trade.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	WTO law provision ⓘ treaty provision ⓘ
administeredBy	WTO Dispute Settlement Body ⓘ linked to: Dispute Settlement Body
adoptedIn	1947 ⓘ
allows	trade-restrictive measures for essential security interests ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	GATT security exceptions ⓘ linked to: GATT security exceptions dispute
appliesTo	WTO Members ⓘ linked to: World Trade Organization member states
centralConcept	essential security interests ⓘ self-judging language ⓘ
citationForm	GATT 1994, Art. XXI ⓘ linked to: GATT 1994 Article XXI
containsParagraph	Article XXI(a) ⓘ Article XXI(b) ⓘ Article XXI(c) ⓘ linked to: Article XXI (Security Exceptions) Article XXI(d) ⓘ linked to: Article XXI (Security Exceptions) Article XXI(e) ⓘ Article XXI(f) ⓘ
governingBody	Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization ⓘ
hierarchicalStatus	provision of a covered agreement under the WTO ⓘ
incorporatedInto	GATT 1994 via the Uruguay Round Agreements ⓘ
interpretedBy	WTO Appellate Body ⓘ WTO panels ⓘ
legalEffect	permits derogation from GATT obligations under specified security conditions ⓘ
legalNature	exception clause ⓘ security exception ⓘ
legalStatus	binding on all WTO Members ⓘ
legalSystem	World Trade Organization law ⓘ linked to: WTO agreements
originatesFrom	Article XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 ⓘ
partOf	General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 ⓘ linked to: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization ⓘ
regulates	disclosure of information contrary to essential security interests ⓘ measures relating to fissionable materials ⓘ measures relating to other goods and materials for supplying a military establishment ⓘ measures relating to traffic in arms, ammunition and implements of war ⓘ measures taken in pursuance of obligations under the United Nations Charter ⓘ measures taken in time of other emergency in international relations ⓘ measures taken in time of war ⓘ
relatedConcept	national security exception ⓘ
relatedTo	Article XIV bis of the General Agreement on Trade in Services ⓘ security exceptions in other WTO agreements ⓘ
scope	deviations from GATT 1994 obligations for security reasons ⓘ
shortName	Article XXI of GATT 1994 ⓘ linked to: GATT 1994 Article XXI
subject	security exceptions in international trade ⓘ
textIncludes	phrase "essential security interests" ⓘ phrase "which it considers necessary" ⓘ reference to "time of war or other emergency in international relations" ⓘ
usedInDispute	Qatar – Certain Measures Concerning Goods and Services from the United Arab Emirates ⓘ linked to: Qatar – Certain Measures Concerning Goods and Services from the United Arab Emirates (DS526) Russia – Measures Concerning Traffic in Transit ⓘ Saudi Arabia – Measures Concerning the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights ⓘ United States – Certain Measures on Steel and Aluminium Products ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (10)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Russia – Measures Concerning Traffic in Transit (DS512) → coveredProvision → GATT 1994 Article XXI ⓘ

Saudi Arabia – Measures Concerning the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (DS567) → keyProvisionDiscussed → GATT 1994 Article XXI ⓘ

DS512 → legalBasisInvoked → GATT 1994 Article XXI ⓘ

DS512 → securityExceptionProvision → GATT 1994 Article XXI(b)(iii) ⓘ