L 281/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 7.11.2000 COMMISSION DECISION of 25 October 2000 suspending the examination procedure concerning obstacles to trade in pharmaceutical products on the market of the Republic of Korea (notified under document number C(2000) 3098) (2000/679/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 328694 of 22 December 1994 laying down Community procedures in the field of the common commercial policy in order to ensure the exercise of the Community's rights under international trade rules, in particular those established under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation ('), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 356/95 (%), and in particular Article 11(2)(a) thereof, After consulting the Advisory Committee, Whereas: A. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND (1)  On 15 June 1999 (EFPIA (European Federation of Phar- maceutical Industries and Associations) lodged a complaint under Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 3286/94 (hereinafter the Regulation) on behalf of those of its members which have an interest to market their products in Korea. (2)  The complainant alleged that Community sales of phar- maceutical products in Korea are hindered by a number of obstacles to trade within the meaning of Article 2(1) of the Regulation, i.e. ‘a practice adopted or maintained by a third country and in respect of which international trade rules establish a right of action’. The alleged obstacles to trade were: — discrimination in pricing and reimbursement prac- tices, — excessive regulatory requirements, — intellectual property issues. The complainant also claimed a general lack of transpar- ency of the Korean regulatory system. (3) At the time the complaint was logded the Korean regula- tory system governing pharmaceuticals was undergoing a period of change. This made it difficult to assess whether there was sufficient evidence in the complaint of the existence of WTO violations in respect of some of () O] L 349, 31.12.1994, p. 71. () O] L 41, 23.2.1995, p. 3. the issues. However, the Commission decided that the complaint contained sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of an examination procedure on the grounds of discrimination in pricing and reimbursement prac- tices. In order to make a proper assessment of the new legal and regulatory environment the Commission decided that it would also take into account any infor- mation discovered during the investigation that related to other issues raised in the complaint. A corresponding notice was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (3). B. REACTION OF THE KOREAN GOVERNMENT TO THE INITIATION OF THE EXAMINATION PROCEDURE (4)  Following the initiation of the investigation a note verbale was sent to the Korean authorities requesting that they respond to a questionnaire on the alleged barriers to trade in pharmaceutical products. The Korean Governement replied by note verbale informing the Commission of the changes and planned changes to the Korean legislation governing the pharmaceuticals sectors. The changes concerned all the issued contained in EFPIA's complaint. C. THE FINDINGS OF THE INVESTIGATION Pricing and reimbursement issues (5)  The complaint alleged discrimination against foreign products regarding both the method for determining reimbursement prices and the system for reimburse- ment. The rules introduced during the investigation appear to have eliminated the discriminatory elements previously existing. Imported products were admitted for the first time on the list of reimbursable pharmaceu- ticals (i.e. those pharmaceutical products that are eligible for reimbursement by the State health care system) on 1 July 1999. Imported products are now reimbursed according to the same rules as domestic products and the unfavourable treatment of innovative products should have been removed by the new rules for price calculation agreed upon by the task force for pricing. () O] C 218, 30.7.1999.