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| Fish sauce produced in Kien Giang Province. This was the first Vietnamese geographical indication for a product regconised and protected in the EU. — VNA/VNS Photo Duy Khuong |
HA NOI — The mechanism on self-issue certificate of origin (C/O) for goods exported to the EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) markets would help Viet Nam's export enterprises, said experts.
Tran Trung Thuc, chief of negotiator of the delegation of Free Trade Agreement between Viet Nam and EFTA, said at a seminar on self-issue C/O in Ha Noi on Tuesday that according to the mechanism, the responsibility of granting C/O for export goods would move from state-relevant offices to enterprises or importers. That means the enterprises or importers would have self-issue C/Os for export goods and must take full responsibility for accuracy of content in the certificate.
Clear knowledge about the mechanism is one of important things for Vietnamese enterprises to promote their exports to EFTA and EU markets, Thuc said.
So far, Viet Nam has had eight rounds of negotiations on FTA with the EFTA including four with members of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, he said. If Viet Nam reaches early agreements on regulations of self-issue C/O with the association, local export enterprises would have a competitive advantage to remain customers and promote exports.
Now many countries in the world use the mechanism of self-issue C/O, Tran Thi Thu Huong, director of the Centre for Certifying Commercial Documents under the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said at the seminar held by the MoIT, secretary commission of EFTA and VCCI.
When exporters have self-issue C/Os, trade activities will become more convenient, reduce cost and increase competitive ability, Huong said.
At present, ASEAN has implemented two projects on the mechanism of self-issue C/O for its member countries, including one project for Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand and the other for Indonesia, Laos and the Philippines. ASEAN expects to apply the mechanism of self-issue C/O for all member countries from 2015.
Therefore, Viet Nam's Ministry of Industry and Trade said the country should join the mechanism as early as possible and complete the policies for enterprises to integrate further into economic relations with countries joining free trade agreements. — VNS