WT/REG339/M/1  
 
16 April 2014  
(14-2387) Page: 1/3  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Seventy-second Session    
 
 CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN  
THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA AND TURKEY, GOODS  
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 8 APRIL 2014 
Chairman: Ambassador Francisco Lima Mena (El Salvador) 
1.1.  The 72nd Session of the Committee on Regional Trad e Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/4252/Rev.1 dated 28 March 2014. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item B.V of the session, th e CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) 
between the Republic of Korea and Turk ey (hereinafter "the Agreement"). 
1.3.  The Chairman said the Agreement had entere d into force on 1 May 2013. It had been notified 
to the WTO by the Parties on 30 April 2013 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 and the 
Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement establishing a 
free trade area (document WT/REG339/N/1). The te xt of the Agreement was available, together 
with its Annex, on the Parties' official websites. The Factual Presentation on the goods aspects (document WT/REG339/1) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own responsibility in full 
consultation with the Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the Transparency Mechanism 
for Regional Trade Agreements (document WT/L/671). Written questions and replies on this Agreement had been distributed in document WT/REG339/2, dated 21 March 2014. He proposed to organize the consideration of the Agreement by first asking the Parties and then other Members 
to give any general comments and then turn to th e specifics of the Agreement, using the Factual 
Presentation, document WT/REG339/1, to guide the debate. They would then go through the 
questions and replies document. 
1.4.  The representative of the Republic of Korea said it was a pleasure to have this opportunity to 
discuss the Korea-Turkey FTA at the CRTA. On beha lf of his delegation, he thanked Members for 
participating in the session. He also thanked the WTO Secretariat for all the hard work, in 
particular, its efforts to provide the comprehensive and informative Factual Presentation which 
provided a solid basis for the discussion. He also thanked the Turkish delegation for its cooperation in the process of preparing for the meeting. Korea was a strong supporter of the WTO multilateral trading system and was an active participant in the current DDA negotiations and had welcomed 
the conclusion of the Bali package at the last Mi nisterial meeting. At the same time, Korea had 
been actively pursuing an FTA policy for the la st ten years since it believed that FTAs were 
compatible with and even complementary to the WTO system. So far, nine FTAs had taken effect. 
Recently, Korea had concluded RTAs with Canada and Australia. He was confident that the Korea-
Turkey FTA was one of the most comprehensive, hi gh-level trade deals that Korea or Turkey had 
concluded. He believed that both countries shared the view that the FTA between the two 
countries was consistent with the principles and rules of the WTO. The Agreement fully satisfied 
the WTO requirement to cover "substantially all the trade in goods", as provided in GATT Article XXIV. 
1.5.  The FTA between Korea and Turkey was composed of the Framework Agreement and the 
Agreement on Trade in Goods. The former includ ed eight Chapters and the latter had six. The 
governments had launched the FTA negotiations at the bilateral trade meeting in March 2010 and had closed the deal in March 2012. In trade in goods, the Parties had achieved a high level of 
liberalization in terms of tariff elimination. The FTA between Korea and Turkey aimed at abolishing WT/REG339/M/1 
 
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  customs duties on substantially all imports within ten years from its entry into force. Based on the 
average level of imports between 2007 and 2009, Korea would remove tariffs on 99.6% of p rod uc ts  while  T urke y wa s  to ab ol is h tariffs  on  9 9 .9 %  of tari ff  l ine s . F or  i n d us trial p rod uc ts , in  particular, almost all tariffs would be phased out over a seven-year period. Korea was of the view 
that this FTA played a substantial role in contributing to the growth of bilateral trade, laying an 
excellent foundation for the two countries to develop a strong economic relationship. 
1.6.  At this juncture, the Korey-Turkey FTA did not cover services an d investment. However, 
Article 1.5 of the Framework Agreement provided  that Korea and Turkey should facilitate 
negotiations on agreements on trade in services and investment with a goal of conducting the negotiations no later than one year after entry into force of the Agreement on Trade in Goods. Since the FTA between Korea and Turkey had ente red into force on 1 May 2013, the countries had 
engaged in several rounds of negotiations on serv ices and investments and hoped to conclude the 
deal as soon as possible. Korea believed that the Agreement would facilitate economic growth, employment and strengthen economic ties between the two countries. He concluded by saying 
that the FTA reflected the strong will of Korea an d Turkey to choose trade liberalization instead of 
protectionism as a way to overcome current economic difficulties. His delegation looked forward to listening to the opinions of other Members and would endeavour to answer any additional 
questions.  
1.7.  The representative of Turkey thanked the Secretariat for its efforts and intense cooperation 
during the preparation process of the Factual Pres entation on the FTA between Turkey and Korea. 
The Factual Presentation provided detailed inform ation about the structure and provisions of the 
Agreement and the preferential regime established therein. She reiterated certain points about the 
FTA, some of which had already been mentioned by her Korean colleague. The FTA was currently 
composed of two agreements: the Framework Ag reement and the Trade in Goods Agreement. 
Both had been signed on 1 August 2012 and had en tered into force on 1 May 2013. In fact, Turkey 
and Korea had started negotiations on a comprehens ive FTA, including areas of trade in services 
and investments, in March 2010. Yet, the negotiations on trade in goods had progressed faster 
than the other areas and thus had provided an early harvest opportunity for the Parties. Therefore, 
the Parties had agreed to conclude an Agreemen t on Trade in Goods and a Framework Agreement, 
aiming to set out the road map for future negoti ations on trade in services and investments. 
1.8.  In this regard, the Framework Agreement established a free trade area among the Parties 
and set out the structure of the Turkey-Korea FTA.  The Agreement also stipulated that the Parties 
should start negotiations on trade in services and investments immediately after the Agreement on Trade in Goods entered into force. Accordingly,  the FTA would be composed of the Framework 
Agreement, the Agreement on Trade in Goods and agreements on trade in services and 
investment upon the conclusion of their negoti ation. Moreover, the Framework Agreement set the 
basic rules and disciplines to be applied to the Trade in Goods Agreement and all the agreements 
to be concluded among Parties, under the auspices of the FTA. 
1.9.  The Framework Agreement was composed of eight chapters, which would be applicable for all 
other agreements, unless otherwise specified therein. They were: Chapter 1 on Initial Provisions and General Definitions; Chapter 2 on Intellectual Property Rights; Chapter 3 on Competition; 
Chapter 4 on Transparency; Chapter 5 on Trade and Sustainable Development; Chapter 6 on 
Dispute Settlement; Chapter 7 on Institutional Provisions; and Chapter 8 on Exceptions and Final Provisions. The Agreement on Trade in Goods, as the title explained, regulated trade liberalisation 
in goods and the related disciplines among Parties. The Agreement was composed of six chapters 
and the Protocol on Rules of Origin and Origin Procedures. They were: Chapter 1 on Initial Provisions and General Definitions; Chapter 2 on National Treatment and Market Access for Goods; 
Chapter 3 on Customs and Trade Facilitation; Chapter 4 on Trade Remedies; Chapter 5 on 
Technical Barriers to Trade; and Chapter 6 on Final Provisions. The Parties aimed to gradually liberalise substantially all the trade in goods betwee n them over a transitional period starting from 
the date of entry into force of the Agreement, in  accordance with the Agreement and in conformity 
with Article XXIV of GATT 1994. 
1.10.  In this perspective, the Agreement on Trade in Goods foresaw the elimination of customs 
duties on all industrial goods within a maximum of  seven years. For agricultural goods, excluding 
the ones on which the Parties had socio-economic  sensitivities, the Parties had agreed on a 
dismantling period of a maximum of ten years. With  the entry into force of the Agreement, Turkey 
had eliminated customs duties on 67% of its total tariff lines and realised the first reduction of WT/REG339/M/1 
 
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  customs duties regarding the goods subject to  gradual liberalisation. On 1 January 2014 the 
second tranche of reductions had been realised. Accordingly, at the end of the final transition 
period on 1 January 2023, 90.7% of tariff lines would become tariff-free. Additionally, with the entry into force of the Agreement, Turkey had reduced its customs duties on 175 tariff lines 
pertaining mainly to fisheries and processed agricultural goods. The ratio of the lines subject to 
reduced duties corresponded to 1.4% of total tariff lines. With regard to trade figures, by the end 
of seventh year, the tariff lines fully liberalised would cover 100% of Turkey’s current imports from 
Korea by value.  
1.11.  With regard to rules of origin, the Agreem ent foresaw bilateral cumulation among Parties. In 
fact, there were basically two main differences included in the Protocol on Rules of Origin and Procedures compared to Turkey's previous FTAs: first, drawback of customs duties was allowed; 
and second, the proof of origin system was based on a self-declaration principle by the exporter, 
instead of certification by the chambers of comme rce. Regarding the ongoing negotiations on trade 
in services and investment, Turkey and Korea were negotiating two separate agreements: The 
Agreement on Trade in Services and the Agreement on Investments, which would become part of 
the FTA once concluded. After the entry into force of the Agreement on Trade in Goods, the Parties 
had already had one intersessional and three full rounds of negotiations, the last one being 
finalised on 4 April 2014. Although it was not possible to reveal the details of the negotiations 
before conclusion, she could report that good progress had been achieved and both Parties were willing to conclude the Agreements before the end of the year. She extended her delegation's appreciation to the WTO Secretariat for its valuable work to prepare the Factual Presentation, and 
its special thanks to Korean colleagues for thei r close cooperation and support. She also thanked 
the EU, Canada, Thailand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu for their valuable questions, enabling furt her elaboration of the Agreement. Last, but not 
least, she thanked Members of the Committee for their participation and interest. 
1.12.  The representative of the United States thanked the Parties and the Secretariat for the 
materials provided all of which had enabled the Committee's consideration of the Agreement. He 
noted the substantial carve out of tariffs on agricultural goods by both Parties. Korea excluded 
nearly 50% of agricultural products from tariff elimination, while Turkey excluded almost 55%. His delegation regretted to see such a level of protecti on of the agricultural sector from competition in 
the FTA. 
1.13.  The representative of Chinese Taipei said her delegation had an additional question on TBT 
which she would provide in writing. 
1.14.  The representative of the European Union thanked the Parties for their comprehensive 
presentation of the Agreement as well as the rep lies submitted. Her delegation had no follow up 
questions. 
1.15.  The representative of Canada joined other Members in thanking the Parties for their 
responses which were still being reviewed. His delegation would be in touch regarding any follow 
up questions. 
1.16.  The Chairman said that the consideration of the Goods Aspects of the Free Trade Agreement 
between the Republic of Korea and Turkey had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of 
questions and oral discussion of this RTA could be  concluded in accordance with paragraph 11 of 
the Transparency Mechanism. If any delegations wished to ask follow-up questions they were 
invited to forward submissions in writing to the Secretariat by 14 April 2014  and Parties were 
asked to submit replies  in writing by no later than 28 April 2014. In accordance with paragraph 13 
of the Transparency Mechanism all written submissi ons, as well as minutes of this meeting would 
be circulated promptly, in all WTO official lang uages, and would be made available on the WTO 
website.  
1.17.  The Committee took note of the comments made. 
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