Large and small South Korean companies are found to have benefited from the South Korea-China FTA without much regional deviation from various locations in China.

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency(KOTRA) presented the assessment on Wednesday by 17 of its trade offices in China that monitored the propriety of tariffs applied to South Korean firms in various Chinese regions.

KOTRA, however, said that there are many cases in which South Korean firms do not benefit from reduced tariffs as they did not prepare certificates of origin.

The agency said that under the trade deal that went into effect in December last year, South Korean exporters may receive a tariff refund if they submit certificates of origin retroactively. It said that exporters may benefit from reduced tariffs by filing relevant documents by March 19 if their cargo shipment preceded the effectuation of the FTA.