Vietnam customs actively implements WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

The Vietnam customs has actively carried out a number of activities in a bid to realise its commitments under the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) signed between members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Nguyen Viet Nga (R), Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation under the GDVC speaking at the press briefing. (Photo: Tran Thuy)

The statement was made by Nguyen Viet Nga, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation under the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC), at a press briefing held by the GDVC in Hanoi on August 22.

Nga noted that the TFA— which has been approved by 136 out of 164 WTO members and entered into force on February 22, 2017 — is considered a landmark agreement for the global trade system due to its provisions facilitating trade liberalisation.

In the year after the agreement came into effect, Vietnamese customs has implemented measures to fulfill its commitments which are pided into three categories of notifications including 15 commitments under the Category A notifications, 14 commitments under the Category B notifications and nine commitments under the Category C notifications.

Regarding commitments under Categories B and C, Vietnam will implement them after a transitional period of two to five years following the entry into force of the TFA through the technical assistance and capacity building in this area, Nga noted.

The customs official said that the Vietnam’s agenda to realise commitments under Category B and C was reported to the WTO on August 2, 2018.

She added that the GDVC will continue to coordinate with the agencies concerned to complete its legal framework, particularly those related to the specialised inspection of import-export goods to facilitate import-export activities.

The GDVC will also promote the national one-stop-shop customs mechanism while boosting the risk management system for customs control and reducing the list of goods subject to specialised inspections to fulfill TFA commitments.

The TFA was adopted by WTO member states at the ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia on December 7, 2013 and has become part of the organisation’s compulsory agreements since November 2014.

It is the first multilateral agreement signed in the 21 year history of the WTO, marking an important milestone in global trade systems and encouraging trade liberalisation.

According to a 2015 global trade report, full TFA delivery will help cut transaction costs by 14.3 per cent on average and fuel global trade by USD 1 trillion each year. It will also save 1.5 days of customs clearance for imported goods, down 47 per cent from the present average and nearly 2 days of customs clearance for exported ones, down 91 per cent./.

VNF/NDO