The EUCCK complained that Korean trade barriers are depriving consumers of the right to choose better products at lower prices. In protection of its legal service market, they claimed South Korea was “worse than North Korea.”

BMW Korea president and chairman of the chamber’s automotive committee Kim Hyo-joon cited safe-driving technology as an example of useful goods that fall victim to excessive regulations. Headlights that give drivers a wider view on curved roads at night and active cruise control -- which can prevent accidents by automatically calculating the distance to the car ahead - are not being imported because of government regulations, he said. “For the sake of drivers’ safety, such unnecessary regulations should be abolished,” Kim added.

Klaus Fassbender, the CEO of L'Oreal Korea and the head of the cosmetics committee, said screening procedures and a welter of regulations here deny customers access to “safe quality cosmetics products.” Screening of imported cosmetics only is unfair, he said, while consumers should be given greater “access” to research results on functional cosmetics.

Legal services committee head John Kwon said “even North Korea” allows overseas law firms to operate in its territory. “South Korea is one of a few countries in the world that has not opened its legal services market in the least,” he said. “But if it wants to be a financial hub in Northeast Asia, it is critical that it opens the market.”

Only in the field of intellectual property did EUCCK vice president Peter Thewlis demand more regulations. Thewlis claimed the production and distribution of fake drugs “is a dangerous criminal activity” capable of harming life. The Korean government should implement stronger regulations and hire more personnel to crack down on such activities.

The EU has emerged as the nation's second largest export market, overtaking the U.S. last year, and also the largest investor in the nation with $35.47 billion of accumulated foreign direct investment since 1962.

(englishnews@chosun.com )