“The government’s policy is to facilitate economic integration, with a view to creating conditions for importing cars to Vietnam,” said Dung at a meeting with relevant parties on the government’s Decree No.116 specifying the regulatory conditions and licenses for automobile manufacturing, assembling, importing, maintenance, and warranty businesses on February 26.
The government decree No.116 has caused mixed opinions with regard to imported cars.
|
Previously, representatives from foreign automobile manufacturers including Toyota, Ford, and General Motors expressed concerns over the Decree’s incompatibility with international practices, which they claim interrupts business and has negative effects on car imports.
Specifically, importers are required to provide a type approval certificate by a competent offshore agency for the automobiles, while normally countries only provide the mentioned certificate for cars used domestically, not for exported cars.
Moreover, the requirement that quality inspection be conducted on every batch of newly imported vehicles is causing additional expenses for importers.
Foreign automobile manufacturers also disagreed over the requirement of having a car testing path of at least 800m which meets technical requirements, citing limited land funds and the huge investment capital needed to set up such areas.
Manufacturers often have their own technologies to ensure quality and deem the car testing path unnecessary.
The above objections, however, have been countered by domestic companies who claim the type approval certificate is to ensure environmental protection and the safety of customers, as put forward by Truong Hai Auto Corporation’s Chairman of the Board, Tran Ba Duong.
Duong added that these certificates do not necessarily need to be issued by the host country, but other competent authorities could suffice as well. For example, German cars can apply for a certificate from organizations in other countries.
Le Ngoc Duc, General Director of Thanh Cong Huyndai, shared Duong’s views, saying if domestically produced cars have to go through quality inspection, so should imported cars.
The type approval certificate should be seen as the basis for government agencies and customers to check the quality of imported cars.
Both Duong and Duc agreed that Decree No.116 will create a fair competitive environment between automobile manufacturers and importers.
