21 December 2021: Joint minutes of the first meeting on Trade in Services, Establishment and Electronic Commerce
Updated 7 February 2022
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Joint Minutes of the First Meeting on Trade in Services, Establishment and Electronic Commerce under the Free Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Korea
21st December 2021 (online)
The first meeting on Trade in Services, Establishment and Electronic Commerce (“the Committee”) under the Agreement between South Korea and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (“the UK”) for a Free Trade Agreement (“FTA”) took place on 21st December 2021 online.
South Korean participants from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Financial Services Commission, and UK participants from the Department for International Trade (DIT), Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT), and British Embassy in Seoul had a fruitful exchange of views on matters related to Chapter 7 (Trade in Services, Establishment and Electronic Commerce) of the FTA.
The Parties decided to accept the meeting agenda and proceed on the basis of the interim Rules of Procedure.
The UK provided South Korea with an update on the UK’s trade policy on services. The Parties discussed a financial services market access barrier related to data localisation. South Korea outlined their approach to data-localisation and offered to provide the UK with documentation on data processing regulations in South Korea upon the UK’s request. The UK will share specific questions with South Korea in writing. South Korea provided the UK with an update on their services trade objectives and noted that the UK-South Korea FTA has one of the highest levels of liberalisation in services amongst all its existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).
The UK provided South Korea with an update on the UK’s thinking on digital trade. South Korea acknowledged the growing importance of digital trade and noted the reflections outlined by the UK. The Parties discussed cooperation on digital. Both sides acknowledged that there is scope to collaborate further on digital, and that there is scope to upgrade the current provisions. The Parties exchanged views on upgrading existing digital provisions through an FTA upgrade, or through a Digital Partnership Agreement.
Both Parties expressed gratitude for the updates and for the constructive nature of the discussion and jointly decided that South Korea will host the next Committee meeting in 2022.