CYIL 2012

EUROPEAN UNION ȃ KOREA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT of the FTA EU services providers will gain improved preferential market access for a broad range of services sectors, such as telecommunications, environmental services, transport, construction services, financial services, services of express delivery and legal services. Further, the Agreement incorporates general regulatory framework, which deals with conditions for prospective agreement on mutual recognition of professional qualifications, transparency issues and domestic regulation rules. Moreover, the FTA contains separate regulatory provisions for computer services, telecommunication services, financial services and international maritime transport services, which define the coverage of services included and specific conditions for their regulation. The exceptions are postal and courier services, where the parties commit themselves to set regulatory framework within three years. 3.4 Protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights As there is a clear link between IPR protection and EU competitiveness based on innovation and research, IPR is a crucial element of EU trade relations and thus the EU pushes strongly for ambitious deals when negotiating with its trading partners. This approach is well reflected in the FTA with Korea as the Agreement contains provisions exceeding current commitments of both parties taken in the framework of the international treaties dealing with IPR, including the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). These “plus” provisions are in particular in the field of geographical indications (GIs), copyright and designs. The main element of the FTA which goes beyond the TRIPS and other international agreements is the mutual recognition and protection of GIs for agricultural products, foodstuffs and wine. Particularly, the FTA includes protection of 166 products originating in the EU and 64 products originating in Korea. The list of products contains also five Czech GIs. 28 With respect to copyright, the framework for remuneration for artistic works has been strengthened, including extension of the minimal term for authors’ rights to 70 years after the author’s death. Further, the FTA contains provisions on protection of technological measures, broadcasting organisations and broadcasting and communication to the public. In terms of designs the FTA exceeds existing international agreements especially in the area of protection of unregistered designs and appearance of a product and in prolongation of protection duration. 3.5 Government procurement The FTA confirms commitments taken by both parties in the framework of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). Moreover, the FTA expands these mutual commitments to an additional area, not covered in the GPA, which provides for significant business opportunities in both regions: in EU public works concessions and in Korean ‘build-operate-transfer’ (BOT) contracts. Such contracts, for example key infrastructure projects such as the construction of highways, are of

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28 České pivo, Budějovické pivo, Budějovický měšťanský var, Českobudějovické pivo, Žatecký chmel.