Singapore exporters could leverage on tariff concessions to Korea by either using the bilateral FTA with Korea or the AKFTA.

The AKFTA will be useful for an exporter who has substantial regional content value as opposed to a bilateral FTA where the emphasis is on substantial transformation within the FTA partner markets.

Another benefit is the Back-to-Back Arrangement and the Third Party Invoicing provided for in AKFTA. The Back-to-Back process involves a Certificate of Origin issued by an intermediate exporting Party based on the Certificate of Origin issued by the first exporting Party. For Third Party Invoicing, the Customs authority in the importing Party may accept Certificates of Origin in cases where the sales invoice is issued either by a company located in a third country or by an exporter for the account of the said company, provided that the good meets the requirements.

Such flexibility will assist Singapore exporters to gain from the tariff concessions.