Can Trade Liberalization Enhance Freedom of Expression? : a WTO Perspective on Censorship

Pursuant to their WTO commitments, Member States shall liberalize trade in goods, services and intellectual property rights, without any exceptions apart from those expressly provided by the covered agreements. Among them is the public morals exception. This paper aims to assess whether the implementation of the WTO commitments may have the effect of removing the filters imposed by some States through censorship, and whether the liberalization of international trade may contextually function as a means for enhancing freedom of expression. In so doing the paper examines how the public morals exception should be interpreted when censorship measures, on the one hand, and human rights protection, on the other, are at stake.