This is a comprehensive analysis report published by JETRO on Japanese companies' utilization of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) and Free Trade Agreements (FTA), providing detailed research on the utilization status and specific success cases of Japan's 21 EPA/FTA agreements. The survey is based on large-scale questionnaire research targeting approximately 3,000 export companies nationwide and detailed interviews with about 200 companies.
Regarding the current status of EPA/FTA utilization rates, Japanese companies' overall EPA/FTA utilization rate in exports reached 45.2%, up 3.4 percentage points from the previous survey (2022: 41.8%). By company size, large companies (1,000+ employees) show high utilization at 72.6%, while small and medium enterprises (under 300 employees) remain at 28.9%, indicating significant disparity by company size. By industry, automotive-related (78.4%), chemicals/plastics (65.2%), and machinery/metals (58.7%) show high utilization rates, while textiles/apparel (32.1%) and food/agricultural products (29.8%) remain relatively low.
By agreement utilization status, CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership) shows the highest utilization rate at 67.3%, followed by Japan-Korea EPA (65.1%) and ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Partnership (58.9%). Regionally, EPA utilization rates are high for Asia-bound exports, while Japan-EU EPA utilization is gradually expanding for Europe-bound exports.
Regarding tariff reduction effects through utilization, companies utilizing EPA/FTA achieved average annual tariff savings of approximately 3.8 million yen (median: about 1.5 million yen). Automotive-related industries show the largest savings averaging about 12 million yen, followed by machinery/metals at about 6.8 million yen, and chemicals/plastics at about 5.2 million yen. The average tariff reduction rate achieved is about 8.7%, with some companies enjoying significant 15-20% reductions particularly for high-tariff items.
Utilization barriers include "procedural complexity" (68.4%), "difficulty understanding rules of origin" (54.7%), "administrative cost burden" (47.2%), and "lack of specialized personnel" (43.8%) as major challenges. For SMEs particularly, "lack of information" (62.3%) and "insufficient procedural support" (58.1%) are serious problems, highlighting urgent needs for enhanced support systems.