European Commission Directorate-General for Trade

South Korea

The EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA)

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and the South Korea is the first completed of the new generation of FTA launched by the EU in 2007. South Korea was designated a priority FTA partner in the Global Europe trade policy strategy of 2006. Global Europe argued that a comprehensive and ambitious FTA with South Korea, aiming at the highest possible degree of trade liberalisation including far-reaching liberalisation of services and investment, was clearly in the interests of both sides. The negotiations for an EU-South Korea FTA were launched in May 2007 in Seoul. After eight rounds of talks, the FTA has been initialled by both sides on 15 October 2009. On 16 September 2010 the Council approved the FTA and the Agreement has been officially signed oon 6 October 2010 in the margin of the EU-South Korea Summit in Brussels. It is provisionally applied since 1 July 2011.

The Agreement consists of 15 Chapters, 3 protocols, several annexes and appendixes and four understandings. The text of the Agreement was translated into EU official languages and Korean. The authentic text of the FTA in 22 EU official language versions was published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

To find out more about the content of the FTA, please refer to:

• Brochure "The EU-Korea FTA in practice" (all EU languages available)
• EU-South Korea FTA: a quick reading guide
• 10 key benefits of the EU-South Korea FTA

For practical information concerning the application of the FTA, please consult the Market Access Data Base. For enquiries concerning the implementation of the Agreement, please send your requests via our online enquiry form.

To assess the potential impact of the EU-South Korea FTA, several studies were prepared, which included: quantitative and qualitative independent studies. A Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment of the EU-South Korea FTA has been released in October 2008 and complemented in May 2010 with an economic impact study that gives an updated and extended quantitative assessment of the Agreement based on the actual results of the negotiation.

The EU-South Korea Trade Relations

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 exports to South Korea have enjoyed an annual average growth rate of 7.5% between 2004 and 2008. However, due to the financial crises, this trend slowed down in 2009 when the EU's exports to South Korea reached € 21.5 billion. In the same year, South Korea exported € 32.1 billion worth of goods to the EU. In 2010 the situation changed significantly and the trade flows increased again: EU exported to South Korea € 28 billion (29.5% increase compared to 2009) worth of goods, whereas the EU was able to absorb € 38.5 billion (20% increased compared to 2009) of South Korean imports.

The value of EU services exports to South Korea in 2009 reached € 6 billion, while EU absorbed € 3.9 billion of Korean services. European companies are also consistently the largest investors in South Korea, representing a cumulative total of close to € 30 billion since 1962 (when records became available).

Other bilateral agreements

The Framework Agreement on Trade and Co-operation between the EU and South Korea entered into force on 1 April 2001. In 2007, the Council of the EU called for an updating of this Agreement as part of a wider strengthening of bilateral relations. Negotiations began in June 2008 and were completed in 2009. The Framework Agreement (FwA) was signed on 10 May 2010 and is expected to enter into force in 2012 after the ratification by EU Member States. The updated FwA is the overarching political cooperation agreement with a legal link to the FTA. The FwA provides a basis for strengthened cooperation, including on major political and global issues (human rights, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, counter-terrorism, climate change, energy security, etc).

An Agreement on Co-operation and Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters has been in force since 1997. Additionally, the EU has established a permanent forum for consultation, sharing experience and views on competition policy, as well as sharing non-confidential information on competition law enforcement with South Korea. The EU and South Korea have recently negotiated a more specific cooperation agreement concerning cooperation on anti-competitive activities. The agreement was signed on 23 May 2009 and entered into force on 1 July 2009.