Regional Integration According to Article XXIV GATT - Between Law and Politics Peter Hilpold I. Introduction II. Forms and Dimensions for Modern Economic Integration III. The Content of Article XXIV IV. First Conclusions about Regional Integration in GATTIWTO Law V. The Turkey - Restrictions on Imports of Textile.and Clothing Products Case VI. The European Union and Modern Trends in Regional Integration VII. Conclusion I. Introduction Regionalism is back! This is, at least, what many studies on this issue assert and what the ongoing European integration process in particular seems to confirm.' In reality, regionalism has never gone away since January 1948 when GATT law first started to be applied.s The drafters 2 See, for example, N. Nagarajan, "Regionalism and the WTO: New Rules for the Game? ", in: Europ ean Commission, Economic Papers No. 128, June 1998, 3. As is known, GATT as such never entered into force but found provisional application by the way of the so-called Protocol of Provisional Application (UNTS Vol. 55 No . 814). See ].H. Jackson, The World Trading System, 1997,39 et seq. Of course, economic integration is a much older phenomenon than GATT law which cannot be recounted in detail here. See, in this respect, for exam- ple ,]. Viner, The Customs Union Issue, 1950. A. von Bogdandy and R. Wolfrum (eds.). Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, Volume 7, 2003, 219-260. © 2003 Koninklijke Brill N. V. Printed in the Netherlands.