Special economic zones (SEZs) and regional trade agreements (RTAs) are frequently used by states as policy tools to promote economic development. As SEZs and RTAs overlap in geographical coverage and regulation areas and are implemented in parallel, they could create profound synergies. As there is no specialized international legal framework for SEZ regulation, and national SEZ laws seldom touch upon the synergy issue, SEZ regulation is largely left to RTAs at the international level. Yet, existing SEZ-related provisions in RTAs almost exclusively focus on trade in goods and appear insufficient in addressing the synergy issue—especially ‘new synergies’ created by ‘advanced SEZs’ and ‘deep RTAs’. To properly address the synergy issue, states should treat SEZ policy-making and RTA rule-making in a coordinated way and consider adopting a regional or multilateral approach in SEZ regulation.

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通过区域贸易协定监管经济特区：应对协同问题

经济特区 (SEZ) 和区域贸易协定 (RTA) 经常被各国用作促进经济发展的政策工具。由于经济特区和区域贸易协定在地理覆盖范围和监管领域重叠并并行实施，它们可以产生深远的协同作用。由于经济特区监管没有专门的国际法律框架，而且国家经济特区法律很少涉及协同问题，因此经济特区监管在很大程度上留给了国际层面的区域贸易协定。然而，区域贸易协定中现有的与经济特区相关的条款几乎只关注货物贸易，似乎不足以解决协同问题——尤其是“先进经济特区”和“深度区域贸易协定”创造的“新协同效应”。为了正确解决协同问题，