• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.475-498
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• 2013

The most fundamental reason why FTA Agreement must be concluded is based on the preferential tariff treatment among country parties. In order to get applied by the preferential tariff treatment under an FTA, the parties need to meet the rules of origin and the criteria stipulated under the FTA simultaneously. In addition, Certificate of Origin(C/O) document is required to claim for the preferential treatment under the FTA Agreement. In South Korea, the electronic Certificate of Origin can be issued by the UNI-PASS and FTA-PASS of the Korea Customs Service. The Web Certification System of the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry also is established. But the majority cases of requesting the preferential Certificate of Origin are generally performed by the business partners. The settlement and activation of electronic Certificate of Origin are urgently needed to maximize the effects of FTA, First, this paper examines the application situation of electronic Certificate of Origin throughly. Second, the current circumstances related to electronic Certificate Origin are analyzed in the practical and systematic perspectives. Finally, the improvements for activating electronic Certificate of Origin is suggested.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.351-373
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• 2011

Certificates of Origin(C/O) are necessary to gain benefits from preferential tariff treatment under the Free Trade Agreement(FTA). The C/O can be issued by issuing authorities or by exporters themselves. Recently, due to signed FTA such as Korean-EU FTA, issuance of self-declared C/O by exporters is increasing. In order to be qualified to issue self -declared C/O, exporters are required to acquire Approved Exporter status. An Approved Exporter is only required to present an invoice to substitute the certificate. The invoice contains an Approved Exporter number and a declaration that states the goods comply with the origin requirements. Either certification or notarization is not necessary. In result, the exporters are responsible for application of a preferential tariff under the self-declared C/O which issued incorrectly, even if it is not intentional. Therefore, in this paper, we studied authorization for Approved Exporter status and the practical use of its status. If companies obtain more Approved Exporter status, the effects of FTA would be maximized due to application of a preferential tariff under the C/O.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.91-116
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• 2014

This study reviews the methodology for utilizing information technology by which even non-professionalists in FTAs and commodity classification area can perform the determination of commodity classification, with ease and by themselves, by means of easy utilization of the information on commodity classification and FTAs, of importing and exporting goods. This article examines the technological elements and logics, etc. which simulate the commodity classification for utilizing FTAs. To achieve this, the author has developed the technology to support the determination of commodity classification numbers by accumulating the database of examples for classification after analyzing the classification factors by each commodity item. Utilizing this Commodity Classification Determination Supporting System, users can enjoy effects of education as well as consulting. In this regards, the advantages of this system can be enumerated as followings : Firstly, self-checking on commodity classification can be performed. Secondly, time and cost for classification can be saved. Thirdly, comprehensive competitiveness will be enhanced by allowing traders to achieve the benefit of FTA preferential tariff, for they will be able to issue the Certificate of Origins on a more accurate and precise basis of commodity classification.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.225-251
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• 2014

This study was intended to confirm a positive correlation between a understanding and utilization and performance results of the FTA in Gangwon-do. To this end, eighty-six companies(90% SMEs) which participate in both import and export were surveyed regarding their understanding and utilization of the FTA, and current performance was analyzed. The research results are as follows. First, we found a positive correlation between 1) a company's global orientation (as measured in export density as a percentage of profit) and 2) its competitiveness (as measured in annual sales), and a company's degree of utilization of FTA provisions. Second, we found that increased awareness of the provisions of Korea's FTAs was positively correlated with the degree to which companies were able to benefit financially from Korea's FTAs. Third, however, at the time of this study's completion, FTA utilization was not yet positively correlated with statistically significant performance results. Therefore, to increase the utilization and performance of FTA, the Korean government have to make a efficient business models for each industry and support the small and mid-size businesses including Gangwon province's SMEs.