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Director of International Cooperation Department (Ministry of Finance) gives a statement at the seminar. Photo: T.B

At the seminar "Tax policy and customs procedures when implementing EVFTA" hosted by Customs Newspaper in collaboration with the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) on July 2, in Ha Noi, Tung, Director of the International Cooperation Department, said the master plan for EVFTA implementation is being drafted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to submit to the Government for approval.

As the advisory body of the Ministry of Finance, the International Cooperation Department has worked with the customs authority and relevant units to develop a plan for EVFTA implementation, including the core content to develop legal documents to ensure the implementation of commitments related to the finance sector.

Tung shared about contents committed by Vietnam on import tax, including the drafting of a decree promulgating the list of preferential export tariffs and special preferential import tariffs to implement the commitments of the agreement.

Specifically, when the agreement takes effect, Vietnam will eliminate 48.5% of tariff lines, equivalent to 64.5% of import turnover from the EU and 99% of tariff lines, equivalent to 99.8% of import turnover from the EU after 10 years.

For the remaining tariffs, the elimination roadmap will last for more than 10 years, or Vietnam will give preferential treatment to the EU based on the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s tariff quota.

Regarding Vietnam’s export tax commitments, Vietnam commits to abolishing tariffs on exports to the EU according to a 15-year roadmap, except for some products like crude oil and coal.

Vietnam’s commitment to tariffs on exports tax in the EVFTA is basically the same as the commitment in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The draft decree on Vietnam’s list of preferential export tariffs and special preferential import tariffs to implement the EVFTA includes seven articles and two annexes.

The key content of Vietnam’s list of preferential export tariffs to implement the EVFTA is that the preferential export tariffs under the EVFTA stipulated in Appendix 1 issued with the decree, including goods code, description, tax rate for 2020-2022, applied to 526 tariff lines, and export tariffs for the remaining items subject to the list of export taxable products will be abolished when the EVFTA takes effect.

The average preferential export tax rate is 9.32% in 2020 and 9.01% in 2021 and 8.71% in 2022.

The decree also provides conditions and procedures for the application of preferential export tax rates under the EVFTA similar to the provisions of the Government's Decree No. 57/2019/ND-CP of June 26, 2019 on Vietnam’s list of preferential export tariffs and special preferential import tariffs to implement the CPTPP.

The special preferential import tariffs to implement the EVFTA are prescribed in Appendix II issued with the decree, including goods code, description, special preferential import tax rate for 10,857 tariff lines, of which 10,773 tariff lines at eight-digit level and 84 tariff lines at 10-digit level.

The average special preferential import tax rate is 9.26% in 2020, 7.73% in 2021 and 6.2% in 2022.

The decree is expected to come into effect from the effective date of the EVFTA.

"Currently, the Ministry of Finance is asking for consultation from ministries, sectors, localities, associations and enterprises. The draft is updated in the Ministry of Finance’s portal and is expected to ask for verification from the Ministry of Ministry of Justice and be submitted to the Government in July,” Tung said.