• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.101-121
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• 2017

This article investigates the negotiation landscape of WTO ITA(Information Technology Agreement) expansion negotiation which is the most recently concluded plurilateral trade agreement under WTO. Using the trade flow data of each country and product, this study explores analytical indicators to identify the overall characteristics of the negotiation and negotiation position each participant might make. Results identified that the negotiation was generally led by export-oriented countries, especially East Asian countries. Country level negotiation positions at each sub-sector are also discussed in this study.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.39-60
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• 2021

Despite the fast growth and rising importance of digital trade, there still exists no multilateral agreement governing digital trade. Significant differences in policy directions regarding key digital trade issues among the U.S., EU and China are the main stumbling blocks for reaching agreement on the multilateral front. To overcome this deficiency in digital trade rules, there has been active movement among mainly countries in the Asia-Pacific region for rule-making on digital trade. Starting with the CPTPP chapter on E-Commerce in 2018, there has been a series of digital trade rules agreed in bilateral or plurilateral formats, such as the USMCA, USJDTA, DEPA, DEA and RCEP. Korea is currently only member of RCEP, which contains an e-commerce chapter with lower levels of commitment as compared to other digital trade agreements. This paper provides a broad analysis of the recently concluded digital trade agreements, comparing the different coverage of rules, levels of commitment, and rules templates. The analysis aims to provide implications for the desirable direction of rule-making on digital trade and Korea's digital trade strategy.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.363-394
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• 2012

WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) was designed to liberalize and expand trade in government procurement. Revised GPA was implemented in 1996 and the latest revision was completed (but not yet implemented) in 2012, but as a plurilateral agreement. Since the end of the UR, there has been attempts by various WTO members to liberalize trade in the government procurement market - through an expansion of Parties who are signatories to GPA, and through a negotiated agreement on transparency in government procurement. The attempt to expand the Parties who are signatories to the GPA - attempt to increase the width of the coverage of the agreement - has been somewhat successful, but I argue that the goal should be to further liberate the government procurement markets of the current Party members - to reduce thresholds and other barriers which limit market access even to other GPA members, in other words, to increase the depth of coverage. Taking cue from Korea's FTA, I propose a two-level liberalization of the government procurement market under the GPA: A "light" level which would be the same as the current level of liberalization; and a "deep" level with lower thresholds and less exemptions. I argue that, as seen in Korea, with FTAs, many GPA Parties already have multiple levels of liberalization (i.e, spaghetti-bowl effect of FTAs), but by limiting the levels of liberalization to two, we can seek the best of deep liberalization but reduce the spaghetti-bowl effect.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.19
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• pp.7-31
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• 2003

The governments of almost countries have the rules and procedures that the purchasing entities have to follow, in order to ensure that the best value for money spent is obtained in procuring goods and services. However, there are often some of important problems in their rules relating to government procurement. Namely, almost countries have a variety of discriminatory regulations for foreign suppliers in the government procurement laws with the object of national security, economic welfare, and protection of domestic market from international competition. For this reason, several advanced countries had reached the Plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement during Tokyo Round(1973-1979) and Uruguay Round(1986-1994). However, the provisions of two agreements do not apply to all products made by the government but only to those made by purchasing entities specified by each member country in its list in the Appendix. Accordingly, the size of goods and services purchased from foreign suppliers were comparatively not large. As we know well, the United States have spent a large amount of money from federal and state government budget. But the portion of procurement from foreign suppliers is still small, compared with the portion of procurement from domestic suppliers. The main reason are that U.S. has applied for long time the so-called Buy American Act to government procurement positively and maintained many kinds of other domestic regulations which have discriminatory provisions for foreign goods and foreign suppliers. On the recognition of these points, this thesis deals with the Buy American Act and other U.S. domestic laws, regional and bilateral, and plurilateral agreements including WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. As a result, the author found that there are several concerns and problems in the U.S. regulations relating to government procurement. It include the provisions on priority procurement of U.S.-produced products, local contents requirements, set-aside procurement from small business, and exclusion of preferential procurement from the developing countries.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.247-280
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• 2020

For customs-free and liberalization on the trade of aircraft parts, the WTO Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft was separately concluded as plurilateral trade agreement at the time of launching WTO in 1995, and currently 33 countries including the United States and the EU are acceded but Korea does not. Major details of the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft include product coverage, the elimination of customs duties and other charges, the prohibition of government-directed procurement of civil aircraft, the application of the Agreement on Subsides and Countervailing Measures, and the consultation on issues related to this Agreement and dispute resolution. Article 89 paragraph 6 of the current Customs Act was newly established on December 31, 2018, and the tariff reduction rate for imports of aircraft parts will be reduced in stages from May 2019 and the tariff reduction system will be abolished in 2026. Accordingly, looking at the impact of the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft on the aviation industry, first, as for the impact on the air transport industry, an tariff allotment of the domestic air transport industry is expected to reach about 160 billion won a year from 2026, and upon acceding to the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, the domestic air transport industry will be able to import aircraft parts at no tariff, so it will not have to pay 3 to 8 percent import duties. Second, as for the impact on the aviation MRO industry, if the tariff reduction system for aircraft parts is phased out or abolished in stages, overseas outsourcing costs in the engine maintenance and parts maintenance are expected to increase, and upon acceding to the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, the aviation MRO industry will be able to import aircraft parts at no tariff, so it will reduce overseas outsourcing costs. If the author proposes a policy direction for the trade liberalization of aircraft parts to ensure competitiveness of the aviation industry, first, as for the tariff reduction by the use of FTA, in order to be favored with the tariff reduction by the use of FTA, it is necessary to secure the certificate of origin from foreign traders in the United States and the EU, and to revise the provisions of Korea-Singapore and Korea-EU FTA. Second, as for the push of acceding to the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, it would be resonable to push the acceding to Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft for customs-free on the trade of aircraft parts, as the tariff reduction method by the use of FTA has limits. Third, as for the improvement of the tariff reduction system for aircraft parts under the Customs Act, it is expected that there will take a considerable amount of time until the acceding to the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, so separate improvement measures are needed to continue the tariff reduction system of aircraft parts under Article 89 paragraph 6 of the Customs Act. In conclusion, Korea should accede to the WTO Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft to create an environment in which our aviation industry can compete fairly with foreign aviation industries and ensure competitiveness by achieving customs-free and liberalization on the trade of aircraft parts.