국제 통상환경 변화에 따른 중국 비관세장벽의 법적 문제점 및 대응방안

Abstract

Under the World Trade Organization (WTO) system based on the theory of free trade, the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) have spread all over the world, incapable of drawing tangible outcomes of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations and the multilateral trade system. Due to such obstacles, tariff barriers are getting lower; whereas, non-tariff barriers continue to be expanded. Driven by the global economic downturn deriving from the global financial crisis, each country, including the United States, are strongly advocating and reinforcing protectionism and taking advantage of a range of non-tariff measures to that end. Amid worsening trade landscape caused by trade war between the U.S. and China, China, especially geographically close to South Korea, is our top importer, and implements as many as non-tariff measures at the same time. On that note, it is more important to actively respond to non-tariff barriers, rising as time goes by, set by the Chinese government in a bid to promote economic growth and increase exports from now on. That is, regulations not announced by the Chinese government should be actively identified and the progress in building new non-tariff barriers should be earlier noticed. More importantly, plans to respond to every case should be established including measures such as expanding the participation of private or public agencies and experts, hiring experts in each field and reviewing legal matters on identified cases through which such issues are consistent with international rules. On the one hand, trade restrictive measures inconsistent with international trade law should be actively claimed to the Chinese authority in order to resolve problems directly associated with non-tariff measures. On the other hand, the Korean government should make best efforts to look for strengthening cooperation with the Chinese governmental authorities and address the issues through dialogue. With neo-liberalism that underscores the need of small government receded and the role of government rising, what is the most important thing is to build up practical capabilities to response to rising protectionism day by day in a bid to survive such rapidly-changing era. The only way we can use particularly under export-centered economic structure is to discover and actively take advantage of international trade law as well as policies related to Chinese acts. To this end, preemptive response should be taken on the basis of legal and rules in the trade conflict with the Chinese government. Plus, the Korean government and businesses need to form trade teams and continue to expand their roles.