Now is time to come up with post-FTA strategy

The free trade agreement between Korea and the EU went into effect Friday, opening up their markets almost fully to each other.
It's significant the nation has come to engage in tariff-free trade with the world's largest economic bloc with a population of 500 million and gross domestic product of $16.4 trillion.
The negotiations for the Korea-EU FTA started far later than Seoul's talks with Washington for similar purpose, but the former won approval from the respective parliaments earlier than the latter despite the larger volume of two-way trade involved.
It may be because Seoul and Brussels have few politically delicate issues, like the controversial import of tainted beef. More importantly, however, it was closer to a mutually beneficial ``win-win" deal than in the case of the so-called KORUS FTA, in which Washington pushed Seoul hard to maximize its national interests in most areas, such as auto trade.
The EU deal's overall economic benefits are also in favor of this country, as seen by an estimated 0.84 percent of extra GDP for Seoul compared with 0.08 percent for EU, according to the European Commission. So what's left is to enter the European markets and enjoy the fruits of free trade? The situation hardly appears so simple, given the preparedness ??? or lack thereof ??? on the part of the Korean government and businesses.
For instance, businesses have to win designation as certified exporters to enjoy benefits in tariff reduction. The designation ratio for EU firms is 100 percent, but that for Korean companies barely exceeds 30 percent. Considering that the National Assembly's ratification of the EU deal was largely expected, one can't help but ask what the government has done?
More seriously, most of the small- and medium-sized enterprises do not even know about EU's notoriously strict origin of place rules, a violation of which would lead to harsh penalties. In a worst-case scenario, such losses would outweigh any benefits from lowered duties.
Government officials are belatedly hurrying to help SMEs be designated as certified exporters and deal with complicated place of origin rules. Yet the certification procedure would take at least a month, showing their lack of preparedness. Such a helter-skelter ride has been widely expected since a private scholar found hundreds of mistranslations in the Korean texts of the free trade accord.
This proved the widespread suspicion right that even the bureaucrats of relevant ministries did not read their respective parts, leading to the conclusion that only Cheong Wa Dae and trade negotiators hastened to wrap up the deal as early as possible while the rest of the government has sat on their hands. It has also reaffirmed the experts' concerns that without sufficient preparations, a free trade deal can bring about more poison than meat.
The governing camp and trade officials are also pressing the opposition parties to ratify the trade deal with the U.S. Unlike the EU deal, the KORUS FTA has several ``poisonous clauses," which Seoul is not even trying to rectify.
The trade may be free, but the benefits never are.
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