The dyadic rule–exception structure common to many legal systems has posed particular interpretive difficulties in international trade and investment law. Adjudicators have interpreted general and security exceptions in GATT, GATS and cognate provisions of investment treaties in divergent ways, and the analytic character of these provisions is under-theorised in the literature. This article argues that we should understand exceptions from a deontological perspective as permissions that affirm governmental regulatory capacity and thus limit the scope of the commands set out in the treaty. This characterisation of exceptions has both symbolic and practical implications, of which this article discusses two: determining the exception's applicability as a preliminary matter rather than as a defence, which would in turn permit consideration of regulatory purpose at the point of obligation; and whether the applicability of an exception is properly a question of merits or jurisdiction.

中文翻译：

---

行动许可：国际贸易和投资法中一般和安全例外的法律特征

许多法律体系共有的二元规则例外结构给国际贸易和投资法带来了特殊的解释困难。审裁者以不同的方式解释 GATT、GATS 和投资条约的同源条款中的一般例外和安全例外，并且这些条款的分析特征在文献中的理论不足。本文认为，我们应该从道义论的角度将例外理解为确认政府监管能力并因此限制条约中规定的命令范围的许可。这种例外的特征具有象征意义和实际意义，本文讨论了两个：将例外的适用性确定为初步事项而不是辩护，这反过来又允许在义务时考虑监管目的；以及例外的适用性是否恰当地属于案情或管辖权问题。