The EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will apply as of 1 July 2011. It is unprecedented in terms of the scope and speed of tariff liberalisation and breaks new ground in tackling significant non-tariff barriers across all sectors. Several studies shown that thanks to this agreement the EU exports to South Korea will increase significantly.

The EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is the EU's first trade deal with an Asian country. South Korea and the EU will eliminate 98.7% of duties in trade value within five years from the entry into force of the FTA. According Karel De Gucht, the EU Trade Commissioner, European exporters will save €850 million in duties in the first year alone with this agreement. 

The forecasts are very positive. One study estimates that the deal will more than double the bilateral EU-South Korea trade in the next 20 years compared to a scenario without the FTA and another study projects that EU exports will go up by €19 billion thanks to the FTA.

The negotiations for the Agreement started in April 2007 and took eight rounds of negotiation until the agreement was ready for initialling on 15 October 2009. Then the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was backed by the European Parliament on February 2011 and it enters into force on 1st July 2011.

The FTA will also create new market access in services and investment. In addition it will make major advances in areas such as intellectual property, procurement, competition policy and trade and sustainable development.