EU-South Korea trade agreement: final vote on the safeguard clause postponed

By applying safeguard measures, the EU could suspend further reductions in customs duties or increase them to previous levels, if lower rates were to lead to an excessive increase in imports from South Korea, causing or threatening to cause "serious injury" to EU producers.

 

The clause on regional application and Parliament's right to initiate an investigation are among the controversial issues that still need to be agreed on with the Council. This is why MEPs felt the need to postpone the vote on the final agreement to October, in order "not to close the door" to a first reading agreement with the Council, said rapporteur Pablo Zalba Bidegain (EPP, ES), in the plenary debate on Monday.

 

 

An investigation into the need for such measures could be initiated by any Member State, the Commission, the EU-Korea Domestic Advisory Group or, under amendments adopted by MEPs, the European Parliament or associations representing at least 25% of the industry.

 

If increases in imports primarily affect the domestic industry in one or more Member States but not all, the Commission could, exceptionally and temporarily, authorise safeguard measures limited to those countries, says the draft report as amended by Parliament.

 

 

MEPs wish to introduce a special monitoring system for the car manufacturing and related industries, as these will be among those most exposed to increased competition after the trade agreement enters into force.

 

 

The Lisbon Treaty gives Parliament co-decision powers in defining common commercial policy implementing measures such as the safeguard clause. This is the first time that Parliament has exercised these new powers.

 

For the free trade agreement itself, only Parliament's consent is needed. The EU-South Korea FTA was initialled on 15 October 2009. The Council is expected to decide on 10 September whether to authorize the signing of the agreement, which, however, can only enter into force after Parliament has given its consent. The consent vote is scheduled for November this year.

 

The FTA will be applicable, in accordance with the safeguard regulation, only after both the safeguard regulation (co-decision) and the FTA (consent) have been adopted.