一、概述
WTO一般例外规则的目的，在于为成员方基于特殊事由而无法履行WTO协议提供一个合法的依据。考虑到WTO协议在性质上属于“一揽子接受”的范畴，为成员方提供一个一般例外规则，无疑可以使得WTO法律体系兼具完整性和灵活性，更能为世界范围内的广大国家所接受。
WTO的一般例外规则即GATT第20条。该条分为前言（preamble）和单项例外两个部分，其中前言主要规定各个单项例外措施在适用方式上的要求。[1]第20条的具体规定如下：
Article ⅩⅩ: General Exceptions
Subject to the requirement that such measures are not applied in a manner which would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between countries where the same conditions prevail, or a disguised restriction on international trade, nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent the adoption or enforcement by any contracting party of measures:
（a） necessary to protect public morals;
（b） necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health;
（c） relating to the importations or exportations of gold or silver;
（d） necessary to secure compliance with laws or regulations which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Agreement, including those relating to customs enforcement, the enforcement of monopolies operated under paragraph 4 of Article Ⅱ and Article ⅩⅦ, the protection of patents, trade marks and copyrights, and the prevention of deceptive practices;
（e） relating to the products of prison labor;
（f） imposed for the protection of national treasures of artistic, historic or archaeological value;
（g） relating to the conservation of exhaustible natural resources if such measures are made effective in conjunction with restrictions on domestic production or consumption;
（h） undertaken in pursuance of obligations under any intergovernmental commodity agreement which conforms to criteria submitted to the CONTRACTING PARTIES and not disapproved by them or which is itself so submitted and not so disapproved;