Commissie keurt vrijwaringsclausule in vrijhandelsovereenkomst tussen EU en Zuid-Korea goed (en) - Main contents

The Council today adopted a regulation implementing the bilateral safeguard clause of the EU-Korea free trade agreement.

The agreement was signed in October 2010, and it was agreed that its provisional application would start on 1 July 2011, provided that a regulation implementing the bilateral safeguard clause were in place.

The clause provides for the possibility of imposing safeguard measures if, as a result of concessions under the free trade agreement, Korean merchandise is imported into the EU in such increased quantities and under such conditions as to cause serious injury or threat of serious injury to EU producers.

Safeguard measures include suspension of further reduction of the rate of customs duty or re-imposing the most-favoured-nation rate on the product concerned.