Goods and products prone to origin certificate fraud such as fisheries, agricultural products, textile, footwear, and electronic products would be put into watchlist for close supervision, according to Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh.
Overview of the meeting. Source: VGP.
|
As Vietnam is a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans – Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), drastic measures are required to protect the sustainable development of domestic production and trade, Anh added.
This issue has been increasingly important in the context of growing protectionism globally and uncertainties surrounding the US – China trade war.
Most recently, the US Commerce Department decided to imposed import duties of more than 400% on US-bound corrosion-resistant steel products and cold-rolled steel that were actually produced in South Korea and Taiwan before being shipped to Vietnam for minor processing.
Le Trieu Dung, director general of the Trade Remedies Authority under the MoIT, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has issued direction No.824 on tightening state administration against trade frauds.
The move is in line with government’s effort to ensure greater efficiency during Vietnam’s integration into global economy and protecting the lawful rights of the country in trading activities, Dung said.
Director of the MoIT’s General Department of Market Management Tran Huu Linh added there has been growing presence of goods, mainly vegetables, textile, footwear and toys, labelled “Made-in-Vietnam” but in fact they are made in different countries.
The main reasons behind such trend are the preference of Vietnamese customers for local products and enterprises looking to evade tariffs, Linh asserted.
Minister Tran Tuan Anh concluded trade protection measures are closely linked with the success of Vietnam’s integration in the future. Failure in preventing trade frauds would cause negative impacts on Vietnam’s credibility in the international fronts, as well as the domestic market.
In a regular press meeting held by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on July 5, Spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said Vietnam would soon work with the US to prevent falsified certificates of origin after the Trump administration announced to impose duties of more than 400% on steel imports from Vietnam using substrate from South Korean and Taiwan (China).
The MoIT has asked domestic firms to use locally-made materials or from other countries and territories instead of South Korean and Taiwan, Hang added.
