Local laws may clash with proposed FTA
The Hankyoreh (Seoul)
13 November 2006
Local laws may clash with proposed FTA
S.K.-U.S. free trade deal may see local gov’t laws revised
South Korea’s local governments were found to have 33 ordinances that may clash with elements of a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.
The ordinances that may be under dispute were found after research by the Ministry of Government Affairs and the Ministry of Finance and Economy.
Such ordinances would violate FTA proposals involving reciprocal most-favored nation status, market access, local presence of top officials of foreign firms doing business in South Korea and vice versa, among others.
For example, one ordinance requires a local school to use domestically produced agricultural goods in preparing meals. Another ordinance bans domestic companies from appointing foreign executives. Most of the ordinances were set up to expand hiring, to protect the underprivileged, or to nurture local industries.
Lee Yong-cheol, head of the international cooperation team at the ministry, said, "Out of 41,000 ordinances, we reviewed ordinances that could potentially clash with principles of a proposed free trade agreement." Lee said that his office plans to put about ten of these ordinances on the South Korean government’s list of non-negotiable items for the FTA negotiations so that the effect of these ordinances would not be incapacitated by the FTA.
