According to leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department, the US-China trade war could provide Vietnamese enterprises with opportunities to increase exports to the United States. However, it may also negatively affect Vietnam’s trade because of the high risk of trade fraud involving goods origin and illegal transshipment, which could directly affect Vietnamese goods exported to the United States. In addition, as numerous free trade agreements that Vietnam has signed are being or will soon be implemented, including VKFTA, VN-EAEU FTA, AANZFTA, EVFTA and CPTPP, tariff reductions under these agreements facilitate trade and expand the range of entities eligible for preferential import duties. At the same time, tariff reductions also create an increasing incentive for C/O fraud in order to obtain preferences.
Falsifying goods origin not only causes consumers to lose confidence in Vietnamese goods but can also seriously damage Vietnamese brands. For this reason, experts say that using advance determination mechanisms for origin, customs value and tariff classification to support Vietnamese enterprises exporting goods to the United States and other markets can reduce compliance costs and help limit risks of fraud involving origin and customs value.
To mitigate these risks and prevent origin fraud, leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department recommended that enterprises, especially exporters, quickly and firmly seize this opportunity, understand their responsibilities, promptly update themselves on new customs procedures and the rules and conditions for advance determination of tariff classification, origin and customs value, and comply with customs regulations throughout import-export activities.
Ms. Ngo Hoang Oanh, representing the Customs Supervision and Management Department under the General Department of Customs, said that as Vietnam has become a member of many new-generation trade agreements, enterprises should take advantage of advance determination mechanisms in their production and business activities. Customs authorities had been combating origin fraud and illegal transshipment for a long time, rather than only after the US-China trade war began. However, once the trade war occurred, efforts to combat origin fraud, especially Chinese goods disguised as Vietnamese goods for export, would receive greater attention in order to prevent enterprises from using Vietnam merely as a route for exports to the United States.
According to a representative of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, together with state-management authorities, when information emerged about US trade policy toward goods imported from China, VCCI issued warnings to C/O issuing offices to strengthen inspection and supervision of C/O issuance for exported goods and prevent goods imported from China into Vietnam from merely being routed through Vietnam for export without processing or production.
