On Monday, Sept. 3, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy released the agreed-upon outcomes of the generally quiet efforts to renegotiate the U.S.-Korea (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement.
According to the Office of the USTR, the text of the agreement will go through the South Korean government’s domestic ratification process before it is signed. The agreement focuses most on automobiles and related issues, but also includes a detail about the origins of trade goods.
The agreements include provisions to “allow a certification of origin to be completed by an exporter or producer regardless of its location or address; allow an importer, exporter, or producer to correct minor errors or discrepancies in the certification, questionnaire, or other documents, with no penalty for making such corrections; and ensure that verifications of origin are conducted by the importing party through information requests to the importer, exporter, or producer.”
