– Danish exporters benefit from an easing of trade in services to Korea. The agreement removes tariffs on 98% of import duties and trade barriers for industrial products, agricultural products and services over a five-year period. [13] It ensures that South Korean vehicle emissions regulations are not harmful to European car manufacturers and contains a clause to protect European car manufacturers. [14] [15] [16] The Free Trade Agreement sets out a series of remedial measures and long-term instruments to be used to facilitate trade between the EU and Korea. This is the third trade agreement signed between South Korea and the European Union. The first, the Customs Cooperation and Mutual Assistance Agreement, was signed on 13 May 1997. [5] This agreement allows competition policy to be distributed between the two parties. [6] The second agreement, the Framework Agreement on Trade and Cooperation, came into force on 1 April 2001. The framework aims to strengthen cooperation in various industrial sectors, including transport, energy, science and technology, industry, environment and culture. [6] [7] South Korea has strongly opposed previous free trade agreements, particularly with the United States. This EU agreement is bigger than that of the United States. But South Korea`s deputy finance minister Hur Kyung-wook said he believed the agreement would come into force in July 2010.
[17] On 22 March 2011, the citizens` group Lawyers for Democratic Society (민사회를 위변호사모임) announced that there were 160 cases of error in the false translation in the Korean version of the document. [18] Italian manufacturers and some French car manufacturers believe that this agreement would cause them serious harm, as it would allow South Korean car manufacturers to compete with them in the EU. Adolfo Urso, a young Italian foreign trade minister, said the Italian government could veto the agreement on the basis of the concerns of European car manufacturers, which it originally did in September 2010. Trade analysts such as ECIPE`s Hosuk Lee-Makiyama have dismissed car industry lobbying as a “myth”: while EU exports to Korea are estimated at 400%, most Asian brands produce their cars in the EU and Korean cars account for an insignificant share of imports to the EU, which even threaten even the most inefficient car manufacturers in Europe. [11] Italy abandoned its objections in exchange for the postponement of the provisional application of the agreement from 1 January 2011 to 1 July 2011. [12] – Among the benefits of the free trade agreement for Danish importers are the immediate – or short-term – removal of almost all tariffs on goods and the removal of the most sensitive non-tariff barriers (NB: barriers to trade with non-regular tariffs). Trade between the two sides amounted to 64 billion euros in 2007. The EU is the second largest importer of South Korean products. South Korea is the eighth largest importer of EU products.
[6] The agreement is commonly referred to as the first of the next generation of free trade agreements signed by the EU that address trade issues beyond tariffs. These main concerns include non-tariff barriers (NBEN); they are significant barriers to trade in both Korea and the EU. Nb is estimated to have the same level of protection as a tariff of 76% in Korea and 46% in the EU. [8] According to some studies, an agreement could, in the long run, increase trade by 40%. [9] The text of the agreement was signed on 15 October 2009 between South Korea and the EU. [19] It was signed on 6 October 2010 at the EU-Korea summit in Brussels. [16] [19] The European Parliament ratified the agreement on 17 February 2011. [16] South Korea`s legislature ratified the agreement on 4 May 2011[20] [21] The free trade agreement between the European Union and South Korea is a free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and South Korea.