Client Alert
South Korea and the EU Strengthen Their Strategic Partnership - Increased Legal Certainty Creates More Business Opportunities
May 15, 2013
BY BRUNO COVA, DANIEL SAE CHIN KIM, JONG HAN KIM, STEVE KANG, & ANTEO PICELLO
The relationship between South Korea and the European Union has recently been classified as "Strategic Partnership."
South Korean companies have been increasingly more active towards overseas M&A in Europe, and overall EU’s investments in South Korea between July 2011 and March 2012 jumped 60.5% from the year before. A major role was played by the bilateral ‘Free Trade Agreement’ ("FTA") between the European Union and South Korea, provisionally in effect since 1 July 2011. The FTA is the most comprehensive free trade agreement ever negotiated by the EU, and South Korea is the first Asian country to enter into a trade deal with the EU.
In February 2013, the European Commission issued its first ever annual report ("Report") on the implementation of the FTA. This short memorandum introduces the reader to the FTA and to the Report, concluding that business players have an excellent opportunity to leverage the new legal framework, which increases legal certainty.”
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