Ministry of Industry and Trade organizes Conference on State management of goods origin in 2024

On the afternoon of December 27, in Lang Son, the Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinated with the People's Committee of Lang Son province to organize a conference on State management of goods origin in 2024.

Attending the conference were Mr. Nguyen Anh Son - Director of the Import-Export Department; Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department; Ms. Trinh Thi Thu Hien - Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department; and representatives of departments and offices under the Ministry of Industry and Trade including: General Department of Market Management, Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, Ministry Inspectorate, Multilateral Trade Policy Department, Ministry Office, Legal Department.

On the side of the General Department of Customs, there were representatives from the Department of Customs Supervision and Management, the Department of Anti-Smuggling Investigation, and the Department of Post-Clearance.

On the local side, there were Mr. Doan Thanh Son - Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee; Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dai - Director of Lang Son Provincial Department of Industry and Trade and representatives of related units.

Many legal documents on origin of goods have been issued.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Mr. Nguyen Anh Son - Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) - said that in the state management of import-export, the origin of goods is an important and specific issue, not only related to the preferential tax treatment from the international economic integration commitments that countries give to Vietnam but also vice versa, Vietnam gives preferential treatment to countries.

Conference on State management of goods origin in 2024 held in Lang Son on the afternoon of December 27. (Photo: NH)

To date, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has issued 42 legal documents in the field of origin of goods guiding the procedures for granting C/O and implementing the rules of origin according to the commitments that Vietnam has participated in. In order to strengthen state management of origin of goods and promote the prevention and combat of origin fraud, the Minister of Industry and Trade issued Directive No. 06/CT-BCT dated June 11, 2024 on strengthening state work on origin of exported goods in the current period and Notice No. 394/TB-BCT dated November 22, 2024 announcing the direction of Minister Nguyen Hong Dien on strengthening state management of origin of goods.

In the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) that Vietnam participates in, the origin of goods is always an important content that member countries need to negotiate to ensure taking advantage of the FTA's tariff preferences. Preferential import tariffs within the framework of FTAs ​​can differ from 10-40% compared to MFN tariffs (most favored nation tax regime) between WTO member countries.

In recent times, the economic and trade context in the world as well as in the region continues to evolve rapidly, complexly and unpredictably. Our country's economy continues to integrate more deeply into the international community and must compete at a higher level. In order to complete the legal framework on the origin of goods, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has advised the Government to issue Decree No. 31/2018/ND-CP dated March 8, 2018 of the Government detailing the Law on Foreign Trade Management on the origin of goods, creating conditions for traders to apply the rules of origin of goods to contribute to promoting exports, helping Vietnamese goods enjoy tariff preferences. Thereby, expanding and penetrating into major markets that Vietnam has signed or participated in FTAs ​​or markets that give unilateral and most-favored-nation preferences to Vietnam.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Son - Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) spoke at the Conference on State management of goods origin in 2024 held in Lang Son on the afternoon of December 27. (Photo: NH)

According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Son, in the coming time, the implementation of FTAs ​​will enter a phase of implementing stronger commitments, requiring closer connection and coordination from ministries, departments, branches, and state management agencies to take advantage of opportunities brought by FTAs.

At the same time, coordination and information sharing among relevant ministries, branches and agencies are extremely important in the work of inspecting and verifying the origin of goods in order to detect and handle situations of fraud of goods origin in practice. From there, it is possible to propose measures to manage risks of origin to prevent increasingly diverse and sophisticated acts of fraud of origin in the future.

' The Ministry of Industry and Trade, with the role assigned by the Government to organize the issuance of C/O, hopes to receive positive comments from relevant ministries, branches and agencies to have a comprehensive view of the state management of goods origin in the past time. From there, it will propose directions and solutions to improve management efficiency in the coming time', Mr. Nguyen Anh Son informed.

Need to continue to improve the legal corridor on origin of goods

On the local side, Mr. Doan Thanh Son - Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee - informed that Lang Son province has extremely important advantages to develop border gate economy and trade and logistics services, and has become a major transit gateway for goods between Vietnam and ASEAN countries with China and vice versa.

Mr. Doan Thanh Son - Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee spoke at the Conference on State management of goods origin in 2024 held in Lang Son on the afternoon of December 27. (Photo: NH)

Lang Son province has received attention from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which established the Lang Son Regional Import-Export Management Office in 2004 and appointed officers and specialists at the Department of Industry and Trade to carry out the task.

After 20 years of performing its duties, together with 22 organizations authorized to issue preferential C/O nationwide, with the attention and direction of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the province, the Lang Son Regional Import-Export Management Department has successfully completed its assigned tasks. The Department has promptly grasped the import-export situation, difficulties and obstacles to report to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and relevant agencies to take timely measures to resolve them. Although the issuance of Certificates of Origin (C/O) at the Lang Son Regional Import-Export Management Department is quite modest compared to the whole country, it has contributed significantly to facilitating the export of agricultural products through the province.

Today’s conference will help central ministries, branches and localities improve the effectiveness of state management of goods origin; help Lang Son province continue to effectively promote its advantages and potentials to become an attractive destination for investors and businesses.

“With the FTAs ​​that have been signed and are being implemented, the system of border gates and infrastructure being invested synchronously, along with the favorable foreign cooperation between Lang Son and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and other localities of China, the attention and support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, central ministries and branches will soon turn Lang Son into a goods transit center, one of the largest trade gateways on the road between Vietnam and China and countries in the ASEAN region, contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of the two countries Vietnam and China”, Mr. Doan Thanh Son informed.

Delegates attending the Conference on State management of goods origin in 2024 held in Lang Son on the afternoon of December 27. (Photo: NH)

At the conference, delegates shared the main contents such as: Evaluation of the results of state management of goods origin according to Decree No. 31/2018/ND-CP after 6 years of implementation and related legal documents; evaluation of the import-export situation and implementation of C/O issuance in the locality in the past time; discussion of some contents: evaluation of commitments on goods origin in signed FTAs, policy mechanisms related to the C/O issuance system, implementation of C/O issuance at organizations issuing and implementing customs procedures on C/O and proposing management policies in the coming time.

With the view of improving the effectiveness of state management in the field of goods origin to promote production restructuring, boost exports, and reasonably protect domestic production through taking advantage of FTA incentives and combating fraud in goods origin, at the conference, opinions said that in the coming time, it is necessary to perfect the legal corridor on goods origin, creating a transparent policy mechanism environment for businesses to take advantage of preferential tariff commitments.

In addition, it is necessary to reform administrative procedures, reorganize the system of organizations issuing Certificates of Origin of goods in an effective manner, creating favorable conditions for businesses. At the same time, it is necessary to combat fraud of goods origin, strengthen the capacity of the monitoring and inspection apparatus to effectively implement solutions to combat fraud of goods origin in import and export activities. Focus on communication and international cooperation to take advantage of tariff incentives and combat fraud of goods origin.

Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest level of integration in the world with commitments in many fields, especially in new-generation Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) such as EVFTA, UKVFTA and CPTPP. This is considered one of the factors helping Vietnam increase exports, with export turnover in the past 10 years increasing at an average rate of 22-23% per year, from 114.5 billion USD in 2012 to 354.7 billion USD in 2023 (11 months of 2024 reached 369.9 billion USD).

Source: https://congthuong.vn/bo-cong-thuong-to-chuc-hoi-nghi-cong-tac-quan-ly-nha-nuoc-ve-xuat-xu-hang-hoa-nam-2024-366559.html