Consistency Testing in WTO Law and the Special Case of Moral Measures

Thursday 6^th July, 2023

Dr Ben Czapnik presented a seminar considering trade restrictions that are necessary to protect the moral values of citizens and consumers. A key issue in the WTO’s landmark Seals dispute (which challenged the EU’s restrictions on imports of seal fur) was whether the EU’s regulatory approach to protecting seals should be consistent with its broader regulatory settings for factory farmed animals. WTO adjudicators and scholars have generally opposed this type of consistency testing under GATT Article XX, but Dr Czapnik argued that it may be desirable or even necessary under the “public morals” exception.