U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement: Potential Economy-wide ... - USITC

to 6 hours in recent agreements. 32 Like the U.S.-Peru and CAFTA-DR agreements, the U.S.-
Korea FTA would require each party to adopt separate customs administration measures for
express shipments. To facilitate express shipment processing, these measures would allow
(1) electronic submission of documents; (2) prearrival processing of information; and (3)
submission of a single manifest covering all goods in an express shipment, as well as
minimized release documentation, where possible.
FTA Chapter 8—Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
This chapter covers the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health in the parties’
territories, insofar as they directly or indirectly affect trade between them, and the
enhancement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement). The FTA mandates no changes to
either parties SPS rules. The United States and Korea would agree to establish a Committee
on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Matters to coordinate administration of the chapter (Article
6.3). The Committee would provide a forum to help each party implement the SPS
Agreement, enhance mutual understanding of each government’s SPS measures, resolve
future bilateral SPS matters, coordinate technical assistance programs, and consult on issues
and positions in the WTO, various codex committees, and in other fora. The chapter specifies
that no party has recourse to dispute settlement under the FTA for any matter arising under
the chapter. Any SPS issue that may require formal dispute resolution would be resolved
through the formal process established under the WTO SPS Agreement.
FTA Chapter 9—Technical Barriers to Trade
Chapter 9 of the U.S.-Korea FTA would require both parties to intensify efforts to improve
transparency, enhance bilateral cooperation on standards-related issues, increase mutual
acceptance of one another’s regulations and procedures, and reduce or eliminate unnecessary
technical trade barriers. 33 The chapter would establish a Committee on Technical Barriers
to Trade, comprising representatives of each party, to monitor the implementation and
administration of the chapter and to address any issues arising from the other’s standards,
technical regulations, or conformity-assessment procedures. 34
To improve transparency, 35 the chapter would require each party to allow persons from the
other party to participate in the development of its standards, technical regulations, and
conformity assessment procedures; to transmit proposals for new technical regulations and
conformity assessment procedures electronically to the other party at the same time they are
transmitted to the WTO pursuant to the TBT agreement; to allow the other party at least 60
days to review and comment on such proposals; and to publish or otherwise make available
to the public its responses to significant comments no later than the date it publishes the final
32 UPS endorses the agreement, citing its “vital provisions for the express delivery industry, including
enhanced market access and improved customs clearance times.” United Parcel Service, “UPS Applauds
New Trade Deal with South Korea (April 5, 2007).”
33 USTR, “Final-United States - Korea FTA Text,” 2007, Articles 9.4–9.6.
34 Ibid., Article 9.8.
35 The transparency provisions of the U.S.-Korea FTA TBT chapter are consistent with overall U.S. trade
negotiating objectives of increased transparency, public access, and timely publication.
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