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Korea Telecommunications Issues --Equipment Authorization And Korea Telecom Procurement--3/27/95

KOREA TELECOMMUNICATIONS ISSUES LETTERS

March 27, 1995

The Honorable Michael Kantor

United States Trade Representative

Executive Office of the President

600 17th Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20506

Dear Ambassador Kantor:

With reference to the me etings between officials of the Korean and U.S- Governments betwe en March 21 and 24, 1995 concerning telecommunications issues of mutual interest, I am pleased to confirm the Korean Government's understanding with respect to the following subjects.

A. AT&T's 5ESS-2000: In accordance with the agreement reached between Korea Telecom (KT) and AT&T as a result of their discussions during the past several months, AT&T will be allowed to bid the 5ESS-2000 switching equipment for KT's 1995 procurement.

B. Type Approval of Telecommunications Equipment: With regard to CNT's products listed in Footnote one 1, pursuant to Article XIV. E of the 1992 Korea-U.S. Understanding on Telecommunications and in response to the U.S. Government's letter and that of CNT of March 22, 1995 (attached), confirming that these products are not subject to U.S. Part 68 registration, the Korean Government will not subject the same products to Korea's type approval requirement. It is the Korean Government's belief that its decision concerning CNT's products will serve to promote the harmonization of both countries' equipment approval regulations, and will also serve to further the mutual commitment of the 1992 Understanding on Telecommunications regarding mutual recognition of equipment approval.

To this end, both Governments agree to hold experts meetings as promptly as possible in order to discuss various issues relating to mutual recognition of equipment approval, including criteria for determining which products do not require type approval. Pending the conclusion of these discussions, which shall be completed within six months, each Government will be prepared to review and decide in an expeditious manner that type approval is unnecessary for certain telecommunications equipment, once it has received adequate information establishing that the function of the equipment in question does not possess the potential to cause harm to a public network.

C. Raychem's status as a supplier of Products listed in Footnote 2 : KT will exclude by the end of March 1995 Raychem's products listed in Footnote 2 from the list of products subject to K T's qualification requirement. Upon such exclusion, Raychem will be allowed to bid directly for KT's contracts pursuant to KT's open, competitive procurement procedures.

D. Use of leased circuits : The Korean Government is considering taking additional measures some time this year to further liberalize its leased line regulation, particularly as it relates to the interconnection between the public switched network and leased circuits for domestic voice communications.

E. Other Issues : The Korean Government has taken note of the U.S. Government's interest in Korea's regulation of Trunked Radio Services (TRS) and Personal Communications Services (PCS), which areas are not covered by the Understanding on Telecommunications between the two countries. The Korea Government further notes that Korea and the United States are actively participating in multilateral negotiations in Geneva concerning the liberalization of basic telecommunications services (including wireless services), and confirms its willingness to discuss with the U.S. Government issues related to TRS and PCS within the frame work of the ongoing WTO negotiations.

Please confirm that the preceding reflects our mutual understanding concerning the above matters.

Sincerely,

Ambassador Pak Kun-u

Attachments

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Footnotes:

1 CNT products:

Type of Equipment Model/Type Chass is

SNA/TCP/IP Gateway Convergence CVE-6nnn/GAU

SNA/TCP/IP Gateway Convergence CVB-2nnn/GAU

Mainframe Channel LAN and/or SCSI Gateway CHANNELLink 3nnn-xxx/GAU

Channel Networking/LAN Gateway CHANNELLink 3nnn/GAU

Channel Networking/LAN Gateway CHANNELLink 4nnn-xxx/GAU

Channel Networking/LAN Gateway CHANNELLink 5nnn-xxx/ SAU

Channel Networking/LAN Gateway CHANNELLink 5nnn-xxx/SAU+

Channel Networking/LAN Gateway CHANNELLink 5nnn-xxx/NAU

Channel Networking/LAN Gateway CHANNELLink 5nnn-xxx/XAU

Hardware Data Compressor CHANNELLink 4nnn/HDC

NOTE: n = Number , x = Letter from the alphabet

2 Raychem's products: (1) heat shrinkable tube products; (2) Gel snap; and (3) RADI.

March 27, 1995

Mr. Donald Phillips

Assistant U.S. Trade Representative

for Industry

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

600 17th Street, NW

Washington, D.C. 20506

Dear Mr. Phillips:

I would like to inform you that under Korea's type approval regulations, the agency administering the type approval process and the test houses are required (i) to protect the proprietary information of applicants for approval and the applicants' equipment and (ii) refrain from requiring duplicative tests of equipment upon certification that the equipment has been type approved. In response to your question concerning Korean test houses, I would like to inform you that, as in the United States, samples that are submitted for testing are required to be returned after testing has been completed.

I further inform you that the agency requires applicants for approval to submit only those documents that are listed in Paragraph XVI. C. I . of the 1992 Understanding on Telecommunications. This list includes a functional description of equipment to be approved and a schematic diagram and specifications. However, the agency does not require applicants for approval to disclose any portion of the circuitry not directly involved in demonstrating compliance with the type approval criteria.

I further note that no provisions of the Korean Telecom (KT) procurement regulations require foreign manufactures to incorporate in Korea or to manufacture in Korea in order to bid for KT's procurement contracts.

I hope that the foregoing will be helpful in your understanding of Korea's regulation of type approval and KT's procurement regulations.

Sincerely,

Lee Jong-Soon

Director General

International Cooperation Burea Ministry of Communications


TANC offers these agreements electronically as a public service for general reference. Every effort has been made to ensure that the text presented is complete and accurate. However, copies needed for legal purposes should be obtained from official archives maintained by the appropriate agency.