Vietnam Inches Toward Implementation of CPTPP

Vietnam Customs recently issued a deployment plan for its commitments under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), according to a June 12 report on Vietnam Customs' CustomsNews website. Under the plan, Vietnam Customs will develop a circular guiding implementation of CPTPP provisions on inspection and determination of country of origin for imported and exported goods, and with the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade will develop a decree on verification of country of origin of imported goods, customs cooperation and preferential tariff rates, according to an unofficial translation of a Vietnam Customs press release. CPTPP entered into force Dec. 30, 2018, for the first six countries to ratify the agreement -- Canada, Australia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore – and entered into force Jan. 14, 2019, for Vietnam.