Not one country. A definition of Europe.
By registering with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the ECCK was officially founded as a non-profit, non-political organization on 3 December 2012, established with the blessings of the EU Delegation and the European business community in Korea.
Vision and mission
The ECCK is committed to advancing the interests of companies from the European Union, the European Free Trade Association and the United Kingdom operating in Korea, and cooperates with organizations that share mutual interests to promote an optimal business environment and fairly represent the European business community.
For the purpose of these Articles of Association, Europe is defined as the EU (European Union), the EFTA (European Free Trade Association), and the UK (United Kingdom).
Articles of Association, clause 2.7While European companies form the largest membership base of the organization, the ECCK welcomes companies of all nationalities to join and to share the membership benefits.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors presides over the organization, entrusted with the members’ mandate. A full biography for every director is published elsewhere; the office and the company are shown for each.
The Secretariat executes the chamber’s day-to-day activities and operations, headed by Stefan Ernst as President of the Secretariat. For the full staff list, see the two offices.
Seventeen countries, seventeen seats
The Advisory Board embodies representatives of national chambers and embassies, providing general guidance and advice. Seats are listed by country, in the chamber’s order.
The chamber's core business
The ECCK’s core business is advocacy: representing European business to the Korean government in coordination with the European Commission, the European Free Trade Association and the British government.
Committees are the key ECCK advocacy platforms and the centrepieces of its advocacy activities. Comprised of participating member companies, they keep members current on regulations, improve market intelligence, and express positions on specific trade issues to Korean counterparts, and the ECCK submits position papers to the government to deliver member companies’ recommendations.
The ECCK reaches out to prominent and influential government officials and National Assembly members to communicate and exchange ideas, and has hosted breakfast meetings with high-level officials from ministries and agencies including MOTIE, MOEL, the Korea Fair Trade Commission, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service.
The ECCK delegation, comprised of the Board and the Secretariat, pays visits to Europe to meet key officials from the European Commission, the European Parliament, EFTA, the OECD, the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.
As part of soft advocacy, the ECCK organises conferences and seminars such as the IPR Conference and GAII (Global Alternative Investment Insights), and contributes to external conferences and forums.
What the chamber publishes
Read the White Paper · The Articles of Association in full, which is where the definition of Europe above comes from.
CSR and MoU partners
The organizations the chamber names as its CSR and MoU partners.
CSR partners
Charity partners
MoU partners
A non-profit, non-political organization, registered with MOTIE.
Entrusted with the members’ mandate, the Board of Directors presides over the organization. The Advisory Board embodies representatives of national chambers and embassies, providing general guidance and advice. The Secretariat executes the chamber’s day-to-day activities and operations.