In addition to traditional Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Vietnam is now a member of three new-generation Free Trade Agreements (FTAs): CPTPP, EVFTA and UKVFTA. With new-generation FTAs, in addition to the advantage of tariff barriers being gradually removed according to the roadmap, non-tariff barriers are challenges that Thanh Hoa export enterprises must adapt to in order to gain the initiative in the market.
The Department of Trade Defense, Ministry of Industry and Trade disseminates contents on practical handling and response to trade defense cases regarding import and export goods.
FXPT Seafood Export Company Limited (Sam Son City) specializes in exporting sushi squid products to the Japanese market. This is one of the 12 member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), including Vietnam. According to the company representative, to enter this potential but demanding market, the company had to overcome many strict control rounds, especially the issue of product quality control and traceability of origin. Along with focusing on input materials, the company has also coordinated with Japanese investors to build a production process that meets the criteria from quality to food safety, environmental hygiene, labor...
Currently, in addition to seafood, Thanh Hoa has successfully exported many other products to demanding markets; and is also a member of FTAs. Typically, exporting steel, footballs, garments, agricultural products to Japan, EU; exporting cement to Singapore, Brunei; exporting paving stones to UK... According to enterprises, in addition to strict criteria on the origin of goods, these markets also set higher and more comprehensive standards on intellectual property, labor, environment, dispute resolution mechanisms and especially criteria for green, clean, and circular production.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, along with the deepest level of commitment (reducing taxes to almost 0% according to the roadmap); FTAs have strict enforcement mechanisms and moreover, they cover areas considered "non-traditional" such as: labor, environment, government procurement, transparency, investment dispute resolution mechanisms... that export enterprises need to meet in order to conquer.
Typically, with the EVFTA Agreement, Vietnam and the EU commit to eliminating import tariffs on 99% of tariff lines within a period of 7 years for the EU and 10 years for Vietnam. However, regarding non-tariff barriers, enterprises must strictly comply with and meet investment procedures, customs, technical standards, food safety and hygiene measures, animal and plant quarantine, technical barriers in trade, trade defense, competition, intellectual property, sustainable development, etc.
According to statistics from the Department of Industry and Trade, the province currently has 106 enterprises participating in import and export activities to the CPTPP market with a turnover of nearly 3 billion USD in 2023; 101 enterprises participating in import and export activities to the markets of EVFTA countries with a turnover of nearly 2.2 billion USD and 20 enterprises participating in the UKVFTA market. However, these numbers are still unstable and mainly belong to the group of enterprises with foreign investment capital.
According to the data of the research group of the Institute of International Trade and Economics, National Economics University on the awareness of non-tariff measures for Thanh Hoa export enterprises, the number of enterprises aware of non-tariff measures is not high (less than 50%). In particular, some non-tariff measures through the survey are still very low in awareness such as: Awareness of rules of origin, measures to control volume, price...
The survey research of the group also shows that the difficulties leading to non-tariff measures for Thanh Hoa enterprises are: Enterprises do not clearly understand the types of measures, regulations, and standards imposed by the partner market; are under pressure in terms of costs and time in responding to non-tariff measures; are not proactive in updating changes in regulations and related procedures of the partner country. Therefore, they have not been able to take advantage of incentives from FTAs due to issues of origin, quality and price of input materials or technical requirements in the product manufacturing process.
In recent years, the export value of Thanh Hoa enterprises has reached 5 - 6 billion USD. According to the plan, Thanh Hoa province strives to reach 8 billion USD in export value by 2025. According to the Department of Industry and Trade, the import-export turnover under FTAs has surpassed traditional FTAs, showing the right direction in expanding and diversifying markets. However, the trend of international economic integration is having new emerging issues with new standards and regulations on environmental protection, digital technology, clean energy, etc., which are still weaknesses of Thanh Hoa enterprises. The main reason is that, although there are many enterprises, the enterprises in the province are mainly medium, small and micro enterprises, and their initiative in international economic integration is not high; the quality of agricultural and aquatic products is not guaranteed, so their competitiveness in the international market is low; research, transfer and application of biotechnology in agricultural production have not been widely implemented.
According to the Department of Industry and Trade, in order to expand the import-export market, "absorb" preferential policies from FTAs, along with understanding difficulties and obstacles to overcome non-tariff barriers, Thanh Hoa enterprises need to diversify markets, avoid over-reliance on a specific market area on the basis of effectively applying signed FTAs to promote exports to traditional markets and target markets, aiming for a healthy and reasonable bilateral trade balance. Along with that, Thanh Hoa province needs to continue to effectively implement vocational training and vocational training programs associated with assessing the demand for human resources of enterprises in the province, especially enterprises producing import-export goods; regularly assess the use of labor in enterprises to avoid violating labor standards and conditions set out in new-generation FTAs that Vietnam has signed.
Article and photos: Tung Lam
Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/vuot-rao-can-phi-thue-quan-khi-tham-gia-ftas-220402.htm
Comment (0)