Pharma industry to benefit from EU and South Korea trade deal
The European Commission has unveiled details of how a new South Korea and European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The European Commission has unveiled details of how a new South Korea and European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The deal will essentially make pharmaceutical trades between the two parties duty free - as many medicines are already traded between the EU and South Korea without tariffs.
As regards EU tariffs on South Korean exports, the agreement will see 6.5% duties on gel preparations used as lubricants for medicines and also sterile surgical or dental adhesion barriers removed.
Regarding South Korean imports of EU products, 8% duties on empty cachets designed for pharmaceutical use will go, as will 6.5% duties on pharmaceutical input saxitoxin and on gel preparations used as lubricants for medicines.
A wide range of other goods, such as plastics, polymers, films, printing inks, paper, will also become duty free when traded between the two regions. Most of these duties will disappear upon the agreement being ratified.
The European Commission says the agreement will create up to Euro 19bn in trade for EU exporters and create a "new climate for the development of trade and investment".