EU to focus on regulatory issues in FTA with South Korea
2007/01/27
EU to focus on regulatory issues in FTA with South Korea
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (Yonhap) — The European Union will focus on regulatory issues in negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea that could be completed in less than two years from the launch of talks, its trade official said Friday.
Ignacio Garcia Bercero, director of bilateral trade relations at the European Commission, said the car sector will be an important challenge as in the ongoing FTA talks between South Korea and the United States.
He also named pharmaceuticals as a likely challenge.
But the most closely scrutinized agenda will be regulatory issues, Bercero said.
"For us, the key question has always been how far this FTA is going to be effective in tackling the type of regulatory obstacles to trade that are at the core of the trade problems we have been experiencing in the Korean market," he said at a National Press Club speech here sponsored by the Global Business Dialogue.
The European Commission in December formally asked for a mandate from EU members to launch FTA negotiations with South Korea, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Talks are expected to begin in February.
"We think the time frame will be shorter than the two years we have agreed as a potential target," Bercero said.
The EU has no doubts about South Korea’s commitment and readiness for a comprehensive, high-quality trade pact, and the FTA talks with the United States under way are such a signal, he said.
But EU officials want to make sure additionally that their agreement with South Korea "supports the process of preventing and better addressing in the future non-tariff obstacles," Bercero said.
The important non-tariff barriers (NTBs) would include cars and the regulatory regime in pharmaceutical pricing, according to the trade official.
"The car sector is going to be one of those areas in which we would look very closely not only at the question of duties, but also of NTBs," he said. "It’s challenging. We would be counting very much on discussion with car industries."
Given his personal experiences in dealing with South Korea, car standards issues would be an important part of that discussion, Bercero said.
The EU is aware of South Korea’s sensitivities on opening the agricultural market, he said. "One would have to see how to take those into account while ensuring that we can achieve maximum possible, feasible liberalization."
Asked about possible inclusion of Kaesong products in the South Korea-EU FTA, Bercero declined to comment, but said it is an area of continuing discussion with member states and relevant industries.
"That’s an issue we are in the process of analyzing. I do not wish to express myself in any particular direction," he said.
Kaesong, a North Korean city, houses an inter-Korean joint industrial project that combines South Korea’s capital with North Korea’s cheap labor to produce price-competitive products.
Seoul wants to include Kaesong-made products in the FTA with the U.S., but Washington’s negotiators refuse to acknowledge them as from South Korea and oppose covering them under FTA benefits.
