EU European Union South Korea Free Trade Agreement FTA

Course summary EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA):

The European Union - South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), is the EU’s first trade deal with an Asian country. It is unprecedented in terms of the scope and speed of tariff liberalisation and breaks new ground in tackling significant non-tariff barriers across all sectors, including automotive, pharmaceutical and consumer electronics.

South Korea and the European Union will eliminate 98.7% of duties in trade value within 5 years from the entry into force of the FTA. By the end of the transitional periods, import tariffs will be eliminated on all industrial products, and most agricultural products, with a few exceptions, such as rice.

The FTA will also create new market access in services and investment and will make major advances in areas such as intellectual property, procurement, competition policy and trade and sustainable development.

The EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will relieve EU exporters of industrial and agricultural goods to South Korea from paying tariffs. Once the agreement is up and running, exporters will save € 1.6 billion annually from not paying import duties. Even on day 1, exporters will already save €850 million. The FTA will open several billion euros worth of new opportunities for EU companies in the services sectors.

Example of the course EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA):

The Agreement consists of 15 Chapters, 3 protocols, several annexes and appendixes and four understandings.

The EU and South Korea are important trading partners. South Korea is the EU's ninth largest trade partner and the EU has become South Korea's second largest export destination. EU-South Korea goods trade was worth around €66 in 2010.

Trade in goods
- EU good exports to South Korea 2010: €28 billion
- EU goods imports from South Korea 2010: €38.7 billion

Foreign Direct Investment
- EU investment flows to South Korea in 2009: €0.5 billion
- South Korea investment flows to the EU in 2009: €1.0 billion
- EU outward investment stocks in South Korea in 2009: €28.9 billion
- EU inward investment stocks from South Korea in 2009: €9.9 billion

The main EU exports to and imports from South-Korea in 2010 were power/non-electrical machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, optical and photo equipment and base metals.