Rules of goods origin in RCEP officially issued

To fulfill international commitments in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien has just signed and promulgated Circular 05/2022/TT-BCT stipulating rules of origin in the RCEP agreement.

Illustrative photo: Internet.

Accordingly, Circular 05 stipulates the contents related to rules of goods origin, including goods considered originating, accumulating, simple processing, direct shipping, inspection mechanism and certificate of origin of goods, etc.

The content of these provisions in the rules of origin under the RCEP is not different from the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and a number of ASEAN1 Agreements acceded to by Vietnam.

Vietnam’s goods exported to member states are considered for preferential tariff treatment under the RCEP when they are issued Certificates of Origin (C/O) in accordance with the provisions of the Decree.

Goods imported into Vietnam from member states are considered for preferential tariff treatment under the RCEP upon submission of C/O or self-certification of goods origin issued by the eligible exporter.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has internalized the provisions on tax differences due to some countries in the RCEP bloc such as China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to apply different import tax rates for the same goods to partner countries.

The Circular 05 will take effect from April 4, 2022.

The RCEP is a free trade agreement (FTA) signed by 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its five partners, namely Japan, Korea, China, Australia and New Zealand on November 15, 2020 on the sidelines of the 37th ASEAN Summit in the year Vietnam is the ASEAN Chair. The RCEP came into force on January 1, 2022.