The Deputy Prime Minister has just requested agencies to strictly implement import tax commitments in Vietnam's Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) for the period 2015-2018. Previously, the Ministry of Finance had submitted a report to the Government, stating the process of implementing Vietnam's commitments when participating in free trade areas. From 2015-2018, there will be a period of deep tariff reduction and elimination.

As of 2014, the level of liberalization in the ASEAN region reached the highest rate with about 75% of tariff lines being reduced to 0% tax rate. Other FTAs ​​that Vietnam participates in have lower liberalization rates than ASEAN, about 30-40% of tariff lines on average. Meanwhile, the degree of liberalization of the general preferential tariff under WTO commitments (MFN) is at 32%.

The items that Vietnam does not commit to tax elimination in most FTAs ​​account for about 5-7% of tariff lines, focusing on sensitive commodity groups, including: Tobacco, alcohol, beer, petrol and oil. , automobiles, some auto parts and accessories, some iron and steel products, goods subject to tariff quotas (sugar, eggs, tobacco leaves) and security and defense items...

Particularly in ASEAN, due to the high level of commitment, only two groups of goods are excluded from the duty to eliminate tariffs, including: Sensitive industrial products such as raw poultry, chicken, poultry eggs, citrus fruits, paddy, brown rice, processed meat and sugar are maintained at the tax rate of 5%; security products (weapons, ammunition) or health effects (marijuana, opium)…

The Ministry of Finance also said that, entering the period 2015-2018, most FTA agreements will enter the stage of deep tariff reduction and elimination. Especially, the ATIGA Agreement, ASEAN - China and ASEAN - Korea entered the final time of tariff elimination in 2018.

According to the commitment, Vietnam must continue to publish the tariff reduction roadmap of the FTAs ​​for this period and issue circulars guiding the implementation of special tariff preferences in the FTAs.

To prepare for the announcement of the roadmap, the Ministry of Finance held many forms of extensive consultations for ministries, sectors, associations, corporations and businesses on completing the tariff reduction roadmap. . In addition, the Ministry also conducted a consultation session in August 2014 for sensitive industries and discussed policy solutions to support and remove difficulties for businesses before the impact of integration and naturalization. due to tariffs.

The Ministry of Finance proposes general and sectoral policy solutions. On the part of the authorities, it is necessary to strengthen propaganda for businesses about our commitments as well as those of our partners in FTAs ​​so that businesses can take advantage of opportunities and prepare to deal with challenges. Specialized agencies need to assess and classify groups of industries and sectors that are affected or have advantages in order to have appropriate industry development policies.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance also said that the planning for the development of industries and supporting industries should also be carried out synchronously on the basis of consulting enterprises to come up with appropriate, consistent and transparent policies. The internal conditions of the economy such as infrastructure, administrative procedure reform and policy mechanisms... also need to be upgraded to attract investment and support businesses.

In the process of implementing commitments, there will be changes in policies and laws, which involve many agencies and departments, so there needs to be synchronous coordination in implementation and management.

The competent authorities, when implementing commitments, if there are problems from enterprises, can apply safeguard measures within the framework of the respective FTAs.

The Ministry of Finance recommends that state management agencies need to propagate awareness, equip businesses and consumers with knowledge about integration to be able to cope with impacts and take advantage of opportunities due to integration. bring.

Industry policies need to support businesses to expand cooperation and investment, strengthen national competitiveness and manufacturing industries, develop trade infrastructure, and develop policies that link production networks to value chains. and international supply chains.

Promote and introduce domestic enterprises to associate with transnational companies and bring Vietnamese goods to the world market.

In addition, industry associations and businesses need to actively participate in the policy making process, give direct comments and provide information to authorities for policy making.
Based on the analysis of the benefits and challenges in the coming time, the Ministry of Finance recommends that Vietnam continue to strictly implement its commitments on import tax in the FTAs ​​in the period 2015-2018. At the same time, it is recommended that the Government direct ministries, branches and localities to actively research and propose solutions to realize the commitment to effective economic integration, so that the economy develops quickly and sustainably.

Phuong Diem
Source: General Department of Customs"