Ministry of Finance take prompt plans to implement EVFTA

Guest speakers participated in the seminar within the framework of the conference

To prepare for the implementation of the EVFTA, the Government is developing an action plan to assign tasks and responsibilities to agencies and organisations to decide on the direction, management and other measures to fully and effectively implement the agreement.

Speaking at a seminar within the framework of the conference "Effective utilisation of EVFTA: Development opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises after the shock of Covid-19" in Hanoi, Pham Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of International Cooperation Department (Ministry of Finance), said that similar to FTAs ​​ signed and implemented by Vietnam before, the Ministry of Finance also developed and implemented plans for contents that were run by the Ministry of Finance. The action plan of the Ministry of Finance agreed with the action plan of the Government on the objectives and defined main tasks such as communication and disseminating information, legal and institutional, improving competitiveness and developing human resources.

According to the action plan, the first and most important task was to communicate and disseminate the agreement and EU market information so enterprises as well as State agencies could understand the commitment to implement correctly and effectively.

Besides, the development of institutional and legal were considered a key task so that when the agreement comes into force, it could be promptly implemented with the completion of the legal framework. Regarding this, the Ministry of Finance had taken steps to prepare and review from the signing of the agreement in 2019. Specifically, during the review of the agreement, the Ministry of Finance has developed a list and roadmap of commitments that should be internalised and legislated to implement, including one law and two decrees.

Based on the legal review of the EVFTA chaired by the Ministry of Justice and the functions and duties of the Ministry of Finance (for Vietnam's commitments on import and export duties, customs and securities services, and insurance services as well as a number of other services), the new legal documents proposed on amending, supplementing and promulgated by the Ministry of Finance included the Law on Insurance Business (amended), Decree of the Preferential Export Tariff and Special Preferential Import Tariff of Vietnam to implement the EVFTA, decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP (decree stipulating and enforcement measures of the Customs Law regarding customs procedures, customs inspection, supervision and control) and Decree No. 59/2018/ND-CP (Decree amending and supplementing articles of Decree No. 08/2015/ND-CP dated January 21, 2015 of the Government regulating enforcement measures of the Customs Law on customs procedures, customs inspection, supervision and control).

Analysing the typical amendment in the case of the Law on Insurance Business, Pham Tuan Anh stated that for insurance services in the EVFTA, Vietnam commited three contents which were higher than the WTO: Allowing cross-border ceding of reinsurance service, committing to allow provision of voluntary health insurance services through commercial presence and the establishment of branches of foreign ceding companies in Vietnam after a transition period of three years.

Allowing establishing a branch of foreign ceding company in Vietnam is not prescribed in current law. Therefore, the Law on Insurance Business has included in the Law and Ordinance making programme in 2021, of that supplemented regulations on the establishment of branches of foreign ceding companies in Vietnam.

Besides on the above, the leader of the International Cooperation Department added: "The Ministry of Finance would work closely with ministries and branches such as the Ministry of Industry and Trade in finalising provisions on origin of goods, quotas as well as other provisions on refurbished goods."