First protocol to amend ATIGA is ratified

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Illustrative photo.

The Government assigns the Ministry of Industry and Trade to lead and work with the Ministry of Finance to implement the protocol and support the business community in effectively taking advantage of opportunities, rights and interests during the implementation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall carry out external procedures according to regulations before August 1, 2020.

The ATIGA was signed in February 2009 and took effect on May 17,2010, formerly known as the agreement on Common Effective Preferential TariffScheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area (CEPT/AFTA) signed in 1992.

ATIGA is ASEAN’s first comprehensive agreement to amend all intra-regional trade in goods and is built on the basis of a combination of tariff reduction/elimination commitments agreed in CEPT/AFTA and relevant treaties and protocols.

Vietnam joined ASEAN in1995 and implemented CEPT/AFTA since 1996 and later continued to implement ATIGA.

In ATIGA, ASEAN countries give each other similar or more favorable concessions than those for their partners in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed by ASEAN (FTA ASEAN+).

In addition to tariff commitments, ATIGA also includes many other commitments such as elimination of non-tariff barriers, rules of origin, trade facilitation, customs, standards and conformance, sanitary and phytosanitary measures.