Brussels, 31/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - In order to help European businesses to take full advantage of the bilateral free-trade agreement between the EU and South Korea, which entered into force on 1 July, the Commission published a guide on 27 October which is available in all EU languages.
The guide, which was presented at a seminar in Brussels with representatives of industry and business, the Parliament and the member states and which is entitled The EU-South Korea free-trade agreement in practice, offers an overview of the stages which EU businesses, SMEs in particular, must go through in order to take full advantage of an agreement which provides for the liberalisation, within the next five years, of 98.7% of the duty applicable to the value of bilateral trade in industrial and agricultural products. During a seminar which saw the Director-General of the Commission's DG Trade, Jean-Luc Demarty, pledge the ongoing assistance of his services to European business, a number of operators were also able to share their initial experiences of the implementation of the agreement.
The free-trade agreement with South Korea is the most ambitious trade agreement ever negotiated by the EU on a bilateral level. As well as removing import tariffs on industrial and agricultural products (with the exception of a few), it provides for the liberalisation of services for all modes of supply, and includes provisions on investment, intellectual property, public procurement, competition rules, transparency of rules and sustainable development. It also contains specific commitments to remove and prevent non-tariff barriers to trade in sectors such as automotives, pharmaceuticals and electronics.
After the first 100 days, the European executive and the South Korean government agreed, at the first meeting of a joint committee chaired by Commissioner Karel De Gucht and the South Korean Minister Kim Jong-hoon, on ways of bridging the gaps in the implementation of the agreement, particularly on non-tariff issues in the automotive (market access to tyres, rules on post-sales checks for emissions from diesel engines and safety standards) and electronics sectors (mutual recognition for tests on electronic products).
On the sidelines of the meeting, De Gucht called on the European business environment to give feedback and notify his services of any problems with the implementation of the agreement. He also urged EU businesses to get themselves certified “European exporter” with their national customs authorities, a prerequisite to allow them to enjoy the removal of customs duties provided for by the agreement. (EH/transl.fl)