CYIL 2012

EDITA ŠEDOVÁ ȃ DAVID MÜLLER

CYIL 3 ȍ2012Ȏ

1. Introduction Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Korea, of the other part, (“FTA” or “Agreement”) recently celebrated the first year of its existence, marking the commencement of the “new era” of trade relations governed by the provisions of this Agreement. Noticing the slow erosion of multilateral enthusiasm, which derived from the previous successful rounds of global trade talks, we have been witnessing renewed interest in free trade agreements. The surge of scepticism regarding the final conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) 1 and the global shift towards regionalism have given impetus to launch the brand-new trade talks with important trading partners, including bilateral negotiation between the EU and Korea which successfully resulted in conclusion of the free trade agreement. The aim of this paper is to present and discuss the most important features of the process of conclusion of the Agreement, as well as its key elements. The paper is structured accordingly, first identifying the nature of the FTA in general and shedding some light on its legal basis and the negotiation process. Then it examines some of its key elements in more details, comparing the former and current playing field. Further, it presents some basic remarks with respect to the impact of the FTA on the Czech Republic. Finally, the paper briefly contemplates the prospects of the Agreement. 2. Negotiation and legal basis of the Agreement 2.1 Nature of the Agreement The free trade agreement between the EU and Korea is the first “new generation” free trade agreement the EU has ever concluded. This kind of modern agreements, which the EU started to negotiate on the grounds of its new trade strategy Global Europe: Competing in the world (announced in 2006), 2 is very accurately called deep and comprehensive free trade agreements since the agreements cover a broad range of trade and trade-related issues such as trade in goods, services and establishment, intellectual property rights (IPR), public procurement, competition and sustainable development. Commitments taken in individual areas are far-reaching and they do not only go beyond current legal framework set within the scope of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) but they also exceed the ambitions of the on-going multilateral negotiations, earning the label of “WTO plus” 3 agreement. With respect to WTO law, the Agreement is fully in line with its principles and rules and complies with requirements for exception to the non-discrimination 1 DDA is the usual term used for the latest round of trade negotiations in the framework of the WTO, which was launched at the WTO’s Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. The objective of this round is to reform and facilitate a multilateral trading system. 2 European Commission, Global Europe: Competing in the world trade, . 3 Even though there is not any precise definition of the “WTO plus” standard, it is deemed to go beyond the current WTO commitments.

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