The Sixth Round of Korea-EU FTA Negotiations to be Held

2008-01-25 14:46
Seoul--(뉴스와이어)--The 6th round of Korea-EU FTA negotiations will be held from January 28 to February 1 in Seoul, Korea.

o Since May 2007, and the EU have participated in five rounds of negotiations, concentrating on reaching a consolidated text in each sector and agreeing upon a tariff offer on goods and services. The current pending issues are tariff offers on services, automobile standards and rules of origin (including the Kaesung Industrial Complex).

At this round of negotiations, both sides will exert effort to reach an agreement in the areas of services and investment, intellectual property rights, dispute settlement mechanisms and the rules of origin.

o Negotiations on tariff offers on services will not be conducted as the EU has not finished internally reviewing ’s tariff offer package on goods, which was handed over to the EU at the 5th round of negotiations in November 2007.

o In regards to automobile standards, as the EU has maintained its position on the issue of Korea's proposal to allow exceptions on a certain number of automobiles and because additional time is needed to harmonize opinions concerning this issue, both sides agreed not to hold negotiations on automobile standards.

The Korean delegation will be led by Kim Han-soo, the Deputy Minister for FTAs, and will consist of 150 delegates, while the EU delegation will be led by Ignacio Garcia Bercero, the Director of East Asia Bilateral Trade Relations at the European Commission, and will consist of 40 delegates.