EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement

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EVFTA , the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement is a free trade agreement between the European Union and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam . At the same time , the Investment Protection for EU, Vietnam Businesses (EVIPA) was agreed, an agreement to facilitate and protect investments.

The agreement was adopted by Council Decision (EU) 2020/753 of March 30, 2020 on the conclusion of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The agreement was passed in Vietnam on June 8, 2020 in the Vietnamese National Assembly and is expected to come into force on August 1 of that year. Both agreements were adopted in Vietnam with a large majority of around 95% of the vote.

The agreement enables almost 99% of the tariffs between the two countries to be abolished by the end of the transition period. 65% of the tariffs on goods from the EU to Vietnam will be abolished immediately, the remaining tariffs will gradually expire over a period of 10 years. The same applies to 71% of the tariffs on goods from Vietnam to the EU, which will be abolished immediately, the remaining tariffs will be phased out over a period of seven years.

The treaty contains various sections on the protection of intellectual property, liberalization of investment, sustainable development, the protection of workers' rights and climate change. Since the EU has a free trade agreement with South Korea, goods imported to Vietnam or intermediate products from South Korea are treated like goods from Vietnam when exported to the EU.

Negotiations began in June 2012 and were completed on December 2, 2015. The ratification was delayed because an opinion of the European Court of Justice on the division of competences between the EU and its member states was necessary. This question was raised by the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement . As a result of the opinion from May 2017, the agreement was divided into two parts, which have a different ratification process:

  1. The EVFTA free trade agreement, which only needs to be decided by the Council and the European Parliament
  2. The investment protection agreement EVIPA, which has to be ratified by the Council and the European Parliament as well as in all 27 member states. For this reason, the implementation will take some time.

This agreement is the first free trade agreement between the EU and a developing country and, after the agreement with Singapore, the second country to be included in ASEAN . If another ASEAN country concludes a free trade agreement or an agreement is reached with ASEAN as a whole, the freedoms in trade with these countries are similar to those in trade with South Korea.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ EVIPA: Investment Protection for EU, Vietnam businesses. May 6, 2020, accessed on July 5, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Decision (EU) 2020/753 of the Council of March 30, 2020 on the conclusion of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam . In: Official Journal of the European Union . L 186, June 12, 2020 ( europa.eu [PDF]).
  3. ↑ Customs News: EVFTA officially effective from August 1 , June 10, 2020, accessed on July 17, 2020 (Vietnamese).
  4. ↑ Vietnam-EU Trade: EVFTA Ratified by Vietnam's National Assembly. June 8, 2020, accessed on July 5, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Mag Claudia Stowasser, Austrian Chamber of Commerce : EU-Asia-Oceania-Vietnam trade agreement. Retrieved on July 17, 2020 (German).