EVFTA officially effective from August 1

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh had a call with the EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan on June 8.

On June 8, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh had a call with the EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan. This was the first telephone call after the EVFTA was approved by the National Assembly that morning.

According to the Article 17.16 of the EVFTA, the agreement will be effective (i) on the first day of the second month after the month in which the two parties have notified each other of the completion of their respective legal procedures for this agreement to be valid, or (ii) at a later date agreed by the two parties.

Under provisions of the International Treaty Law 2016, after the National Assembly issues a resolution ratifying the EVFTA (usually takes one week), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will inform the EU about the completion of domestic legal procedures in Vietnam.

As the EU sent a diplomatic note to Vietnam in April, Vietnam's notification to the EU will also include setting the date of entry into force of the agreement for both parties (if following the option (i) will be August 1, 2020).

Vietnam announced that the National Assembly officially ratified the EVFTA at the meeting session on June 8. At the same time, the National Assembly also ratified the Convention 105 on forced labour of the World Labor Organization (ILO), in line with the roadmap that Vietnam shared with the EU before signing the EVFTA.

The EU appreciated the event that the National Assembly of Vietnam ratified the agreement and considered this to be a "historic" event in economic and trade cooperation between the two sides. The EU proposed to put the agreement into effect from August 1.

Vietnam has proposed to promote the implementation of the EVFTA as soon as possible so that the two sides can take advantage of opportunities from the agreement to improve the economic and trade situation after suffering the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The EU High Commissioner acknowledged and promised to have more exchanges with specialised agencies and member countries. However, he also said the pandemic situation in the EU was still relatively difficult, affecting coordination.