Commission receives support for market access strategy
At a recent Council meeting, the EU's Foreign Ministers endorsed a report on the EU's market access strategy and welcomed progress made by the Commission in opening world markets to EU exporters. The strategy aims to involve business in identifying new and existing barriers to trade, and the report documents new measures to strengthen and streamline the process for reviewing, analysing and taking action on barriers to trade. The Commission also intends to draw up a series of new reports on specific types of barriers to trade, including intellectual property rights, standards and certification, and trade-related investment measures. It will also conduct geographical reviews for discussions with Member States and will improve and extend the market access database. A new section to be added to the database, entitled "Exporter's Guide to Import Formalities", will provide exporters with a complete on-line guide to export procedures for their particular products in key export markets. The coverage of sectoral and trade data reports and information on applied tariffs will also be expanded. The number of specific barriers identified has risen from 352 in 1996 to over 1,000. The report also noted the increasing use of the Trade Barriers Regulation, which obliges the Commission to investigate all complaints by EU companies on trade barriers. The EU is also making increased use of World Trade Organization dispute settlement procedures and bilateral initiatives to eliminate barriers to trade of a global nature. The Commission is also organizing a seminar on Korean standards, testing and certification, in Brussels, Belgium, on 2 July 1998. This will enable businesses interested in importing into Korea to discuss the regulatory requirements with Korean experts at first-hand.
Countries
South Korea