Viet Nam adopts pro-active measures to protect trade

Illustrative Image. —Photo hanoimoi.vn

Luong Kim Thanh, a senior officer from the Trade Remedies Authority of Viet Nam, talks to Ha Noi Moi (New Ha Noi) newspaper on Viet Nam’s resolve to be pro-active in the international market in all circumstances.

Do you know why many countries have recently increased their monitoring activities against the flow of Vietnamese goods exported to their countries?

With tense Sino-US trade relations, many countries have strengthened their trade protection measures to protect their local markets and production. Thanks to its lucrative policies on foreign investment, Viet Nam has become a venue for many foreign enterprises. And Viet Nam becomes a major exporter in the international market – a target for importing nations to monitor and to take supplementary trade safeguard measures.

In the period from 2000-2016, there were 15 investigative cases against exported goods from Viet Nam. However, in the following two years 2017 and 2018, there were only two investigation cases while another case was still in the proceeding process. It is forecast this will continue to increase in the near future.

More recently, many Vietnamese exported goods, including electric bikes, iron and steel, solar energy batteries and others have scored a sudden hike (between 20-50 per cent) in their exported value. As a result, many Vietnamese-made goods have been subjected to strict investigations by foreign importers to avoid trade fraud.

Has the Ministry of Trade taken any preventive measures to protect the rights and interest of Vietnamese enterprises and the Vietnamese nation as a whole in international trade?

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has adopted many trade safeguard and anti-fraud measures. For example, since 2017, the MOIT has worked closely with concerned Vietnamese agencies to step up their monitoring activities to avoid trade fraud.

Following Washington’s decision to increase tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the USA to US$200 billion, the MOIT has sent an official letter to the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to request it to intensify the checking of Certificate of Origin (C/O) for Vietnamese goods to be exported to the USA, including lumber, textile articles, leather shoes and others.

The MOIT has regularly sent inspection teams to check and verify the C/O for goods to be exported to the EU to make sure all the goods have met export requirements.

What measures has the MOIT adopted to protect Vietnamese goods against foreign imported goods?

With tense trade relations between Washington and Beijing and the trade protection tendency, the MOIT has already developed a proposal on strengthening the State management toward trade protection and against trade fraud. Meanwhile, the Trade Remedies Authority of Viet Nam has requested all its branches nationwide to increase their market watch activities.

In the period from 2018-2025, all exporting companies have sent reports to the concerned authorities on their activities inside and outside Viet Nam. — VNS