United Arab Emirates’ Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with South Korea entered into force in May 2026, initiating a phased tariff elimination over up to 10 years.<\/p>\n
The United Arab Emirates and South Korea started a trade agreement on 1 May 2026 that removes or cuts customs duties on most goods traded between them, in steps over up to 10 years1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The deal is the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a trade agreement covering goods, services and investment. The two countries signed it on 29 May 20242<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n In short, many goods made in the UAE or South Korea now pay lower import duties, or none, when they cross between the two countries. A shipment only gets the lower rate if it meets the agreement’s origin rules and each country’s list of tariff cuts.<\/p>\n Both countries have promised to cut duties on about 91.2% of tariff lines<\/strong>, the separate product entries in a customs tariff1<\/a><\/sup>. The duties will fall step by step, following each country’s Schedule of Tariff Commitments, its own list of cuts for each product1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade says more than 90% of tariffs on goods trade will be removed over a period of up to 10 years<\/strong>1<\/a><\/sup>. It also says the deal removes or reduces duties on more than 90% of the value of trade between the two countries1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n Some products pay zero duty from day one<\/strong>, that is, from 1 May 20261<\/a><\/sup>. Others see their duty cut over several years1<\/a><\/sup>. The rate for each product is shown on the ministry’s online CEPA Market Access Dashboard, where a trader looks up the product by its HS code, the international product number used by customs1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n South Korea’s official government news site, Korea.net, names some of the goods involved. It says tariffs on 91.2% of all items will be scrapped over 10 years3<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n On the Korean export side, cars are the leading product sold to the UAE3<\/a><\/sup>. Korea.net also names three growing groups:<\/p>\n For goods going the other way, the UAE is South Korea’s third-largest supplier of crude oil3<\/a><\/sup>. South Korea will phase out its tariffs on crude oil, its largest single import, over the next 10 years3<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n A shipment gets the lower duty only if it qualifies under the rules of origin, which decide where a product counts as made1<\/a><\/sup>. The rules differ by type of goods1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n For manufactured products, the agreement uses a "sufficient working or processing" rule1<\/a><\/sup>. A product can meet it in one of two ways:<\/p>\n Some goods also have their own product-specific rules1<\/a><\/sup>. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade issues a certificate of origin<\/strong>, the paper that proves where goods were made, through its online services1<\/a><\/sup>. The procedures include checks to verify these certificates1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The agreement asks both countries to make customs work faster and more open1<\/a><\/sup>. It covers advance rulings, which are written customs decisions on a product before it is shipped, and risk-based systems that decide which goods to inspect1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n Food safety, plant-health and product standards rules must be based on international standards1<\/a><\/sup>. They must be applied openly and must not treat goods from the other country unfairly1<\/a><\/sup>. Each country still keeps the right to protect human, animal and plant life and health1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The deal also bans customs duties on electronic transmissions, such as software or files sent online1<\/a><\/sup>. It supports paperless trade and digital documents1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n Yes, in some cases. Both countries keep their World Trade Organization rights to use anti-dumping duties, which are extra import taxes on goods sold abroad below their normal price1<\/a><\/sup>. They also keep countervailing duties against subsidised goods and global safeguard measures1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The agreement adds a bilateral safeguard, an emergency brake between the two countries only1<\/a><\/sup>. If imports of a product rise so much after tariff cuts that they seriously harm local producers, the hurt country may pause its cuts or raise the duty for a time1<\/a><\/sup>. It must first carry out an investigation1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The start was brought forward to 1 May, ahead of schedule3<\/a><\/sup>. South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said on April 3 that the two trade ministers agreed this in a videoconference3<\/a><\/sup>. The ministers were Yeo Han-koo for South Korea and Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi for the UAE3<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The agreement has 18 chapters with annexes2<\/a><\/sup>. A joint committee and subcommittees will meet regularly to manage it2<\/a><\/sup>. For a shipment moving now, the key test is the product’s HS code: the dashboard shows whether it already pays zero duty or waits for a later cut1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n United Arab Emirates’ Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with South Korea entered into force in May 2026, initiating a phased tariff\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_regnews_id":"35357","_hsn_citations":"[{\"n\":1,\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.trade.gov.ae\/uae-korea-cepa\",\"label\":\"UAE \u2013 Korea CEPA - Ministry Of Foreign Trade\"},{\"n\":2,\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.moet.gov.ae\/en\/uae-korea-comprehensive-economic-partnership-agreement\",\"label\":\"United Arab Emirates - Republic of Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement\"},{\"n\":3,\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.korea.net\/NewsFocus\/Business\/view?articleId=290328\",\"label\":\"Effectuation of free trade accord with UAE moved up to May 1 : Korea.net : The official website of the Republic of Korea\"}]","_hsn_no_sources":"","_hsn_content_hash":"897c43b3c0368bd85029b027df0a7defa1171b85:168508d5afa401a09adda3106e6ed428b78111b8","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"all products","footnotes":""},"categories":[151,71],"tags":[53],"class_list":["post-1660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east","category-trade-agreements-tariffs","tag-united-arab-emirates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1660"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2367,"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions\/2367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hscodematch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How much will UAE\u2013Korea tariffs fall?<\/h2>\n
How far and how fast duties fall<\/h4>\n
Which goods does the Korea deal cover?<\/h2>\n
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What must a shipment prove to get the lower CEPA duty?<\/h2>\n
What a shipment needs for the lower duty<\/h4>\n
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What changes at the border for UAE\u2013Korea trade?<\/h2>\n
Can the UAE or Korea raise duties again?<\/h2>\n
Why did the Korea CEPA start early?<\/h2>\n
From signing to start<\/h4>\n
Sources<\/h2>\n
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