New Import Tariff Regime Kicks in with WTO Membership
Vietnam‘s customs department has instructed its offices around the country to adopt preferential import tariffs dictated by WTO rules as of January 11 when the country became a WTO member.
The average tax will be gradually lowered on all items to 13.4 percent in 5-7 years.
It will begin this year with cuts on a third of the total 10,600 tariff lines, mainly those with tariffs rates of more than 30 percent now.
The deepest cuts would be on textile and garment (now taxed at 63 percent); fish and fisheries products (38 percent); timber and paper (33 percent); and machinery and electronic products (24 percent).
But some protection will continue to be maintained for some major items like farm produce, cement, steel, construction materials, automobiles, and motorbikes.
Quota-based tariffs will also be maintained on four essential commodities: sugar, eggs, tobacco, and salt.
The tax on poultry eggs is currently 40 percent, sugar 25 percent, refined sugar 40-50 percent, tobacco 30 percent, and salt 30 percent.
If import volumes exceed the quota, the tariff goes up
Source: Thanh Nien News
