Revision of the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement
Annexes of the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement were revised including those covering the recognition of UNECE regulations for vehicles and their parts.
The EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement fully entered into force in 2015. Its Appendices 2-C-2 and 2-C-3 cover motor vehicles and their parts and lists those for which both parties recognize UNECE regulations. Recently, some changes were made to the text.
According to the Decision No 3 of the Korea-EU Trade Committee of 29 April 2021 on the amendment of Appendices 2-C-2 and 2-C-3 of Annex 2-C to the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement (2021/1082), among others the following changes were made:
- since UN Regulations apply on a compulsory basis in the EU, for simplicity reasons it has been decided to delete the references to EU Regulations (e.g. GSR) and Directives in the ‘Corresponding EU Technical Regulation’ column, and the column has been left blank.
- concerning ‘Permissible sound level’ and ‘Replacement silencing systems’, Regulation (EU) No 540/2014 has been added under the Corresponding EU Technical Regulation because it repeals Directive 70/157/EEC and applies in a time-staggered fashion.
- ‘Emissions’ has been replaced with ‘Emissions light vehicles’ because the UN Reg. 83 requirement applies to M1 and N1 vehicle categories only. Moreover, the reference to ‘Directive 70/220/EEC’ has been deleted because it has been repealed and replaced by ‘Regulations (EC) No 715/2007, (EC) No 692/2008, (EU) No 459/2012, (EU) 2016/427, (EU) 2016/646, (EU) 2017/1151, (EU) 2017/1154 and (EU) 2018/1832’, which have been added under the Corresponding EU Technical Regulation.
- Concerning ‘Replacement catalytic converters’, the reference to ‘Directive 70/220/EEC’ has been deleted because it has been repealed and replaced by ‘Regulations (EC) No 715/2007 and (EC) No 692/2008’ which have been added under the Corresponding EU Technical Regulation.
- … and several others.
If you want to find out more about the role and impact of the EU Free Trade Agreements for the automotive industry and for the recognition of UNECE regulations, do not hesitate to contact us.
