Trade Policy and Market Access
Viet Nam has been a member of the WTO since 2007. In the process of economic restructuring and comprehensive international integration, the Vietnamese Government is strongly committed to the multilateral trading system and considers it the main focus of Viet Nam’s economic integration policies. Viet Nam’s average MFN applied tariff in 2012 was 9.5 per cent. Agricultural exports into the country face higher barriers (18.5 per cent) compared to non-agricultural exports (10.4 per cent). Viet Nam became a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995, and granted preferential treatment for goods to its ASEAN partners under the Common Effective Preferential Tariffs in 1996. As a member of ASEAN Viet Nam signed the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement that included provisions on the elimination of non-tariff barriers (NTB) further to WTO requirements and the 2006 ASEAN Work Programme on the Elimination of NTBs (WTO 2013a).
WTO, 2013, Trade Policy Review (Viet Nam)
Standard Compliance and Other Relevant Import/Export Restrictions
Upon its accession to the WTO Viet Nam undertook to comply with the obligations of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). Viet Nam notified a number of measures to the TBT Committee including a notification to accept the Code of Good Practice. The Ministry of Science and Technology is responsible for developing standards and technical regulations for products and services and its affiliated organization, the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality, under this Ministry, represents Viet Nam in international and regional standard organizations. Moreover, Viet Nam undertook to comply with the requirements of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures. Viet Nam has put in place a legislative framework for SPS measures as set out in the ordinances for plant protection and quarantine, animal health, and laws on food safety and environmental protection. The measures generally correspond to standards established by the World Organization for Animal Health, Codex Alimentarius, and the International Plant Protection Convention.
WTO, 2013, Trade Policy Review (Viet Nam)