Strasbourg, 25/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - Henceforth only a ministerial agreement will allow the EU and South Korea to reach a final bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), for which negotiations were begun in May 2007. This was the conclusion reached on Tuesday 24 March in Seoul by European and South Korean negotiators after their 8th and final session of talks. It will therefore be up to Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton and her South Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-hoon, to finalise the FTA on 2 April in London on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Although, on the South Korean side, Chief Negotiator Lee Hye-min makes no bones about speaking of a “provisional agreement” on all chapters, his European counterpart, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, is more cautious. Ministers will have the arduous task of resolving the thorniest outstanding issues. Although major progress has been made on abolishing tariffs and norms in the automotive industry, questions concerning “duty drawback” and rules of origin remain major obstacles to reaching a definitive agreement. South Korea is not in fact ready to give up its duty drawback system which allows its exporters to import cheap components from China and obtain reimbursement of import duties paid on these products if they enter into the composition of products intended for the Community market. Seoul wants rules of origin to be more flexible so that its exporters may sell their products under the “made in Korea” label, although part of their production is in fact carried out in neighbouring countries where labour costs less, as in China. In addition to these issues, the planned opening of the audiovisual sector also raises a problem, with France calling for safeguard of cultural exception. The FTA with South Korea nonetheless remains the most ambitious trade agreement ever negotiated by the EU. It provides for elimination of 97% of tariff lines over five years (99% on the European side and 96% on the Korean side) and covers non-tariff barriers, such as automobile norms and standards, services and intellectual property. (E.H./transl.jl)