Protection of Sensitive Items like Rice and Chili Peppers in RCEP... "Minimizing Additional Agricultural Market Opening"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] As the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest free trade agreement (FTA), was finalized on the 15th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs forecasted that the impact on domestic farms would be limited.

According to the 'RCEP Final Signing' materials released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the day, additional market opening was minimized compared to already concluded FTAs by reflecting the sensitivity of agricultural products.

In particular, key sensitive items with high import volumes such as rice, chili peppers, garlic, onions, as well as bananas and pineapples, were protected by excluding them from tariff concessions.

For some additionally opened items, sufficient tariff elimination periods were secured. For guava (tariff rate 30%), papaya (30%), and mangosteen (30%), tariffs will be eliminated after 10 years.

Among countries that have already concluded FTAs outside the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China saw additional openings for deer antler velvet (tariff rate 20%, tariff elimination period 20 years) and dextrin (8%, immediate elimination), and Australia for sausage casings (27%, 20 years). Negotiations with New Zealand were concluded without additional openings.

Compared to other FTAs, the agricultural market opening negotiations with Japan, with which a new FTA effect applies, ended at a lower level of openness. The proportion of tariff elimination on agricultural products with Japan is 46%, lower than the FTA average of 72%. Opened items include cheongju (15%, 15 years) and beer (30%, 20 years).

Among promising export items for Korea, market accessibility improved for soju and Makgeolli (Japan), apples and pears (Indonesia), and strawberries (Thailand).

Additionally, the negotiations included provisions to specify procedural requirements and strengthen cooperation such as information exchange for the transparent and rational operation of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures.

Regulations were also incorporated to enhance the safety of imported foods, such as requiring exporting countries to implement recurrence prevention measures if significant SPS non-compliance occurs in imported foods.

For fresh agricultural products, strict origin criteria were set to prevent circumvention of imports within the RCEP region. However, for processed foods, relatively relaxed standards were applied considering domestic raw material supply conditions and export potential.

A Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs official stated, "The government plans to conduct an impact assessment based on relevant laws," adding, "Depending on the results, domestic supplementary measures for affected industries will be prepared if necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.