(VEN) - On July 15, 2010, the EU abrogated the anti-dumping tax imposed on Vietnamese bicycles. Vietnam Economic News' Ngoc Quynh spoke with Vu Ba Phu, the deputy director of the Competition Management Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, about possibilities for resuming the export of Vietnamese bicycles to the EU.
What do you think of the EU's decision to abrogate the anti-dumping tax on Vietnamese bicycles?
The EU made this decision based on the results of serious investigations that the European Commission (EC) carried out in the Vietnamese bicycle sector. This means Vietnamese bicycle manufacturers and exporters have not been dumping products in the EU and they have seriously followed Vietnam's commitments with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in this field.
The decision has received the active support from European consumers. Now they can buy Vietnamese bicycles at lower prices compared with the past five years when the EU imposed an anti-dumping tax on bicycles with Vietnamese origin.
Do you think that the decision will help Vietnam resume the export of bicycles to the EU market?
The anti-dumping tax has been abolished and I think Vietnamese companies can resume production and exports to the EU. However, in the past five years the domestic bicycle sector has suffered heavy losses due to the anti-dumping tax. Many bicycle manufacturers have narrowed production or made a shift to making other kinds of products. Some companies have even stopped their operations in Vietnam and moved to another country. Therefore, resuming bicycle production and exports to the EU is not an easy thing that can be done overnight.
Moreover, the EU still imposes an anti-dumping tax on bicycles manufactured by some other countries. Chinese bicycles for example are still subject to an anti-dumping tax rate of 48.5 percent. Parallel with restoring production, domestic companies have to cope with unhealthy competition because other countries that are still subject to an anti-dumping tax illegally transport their bicycles to Vietnam for tax-free export to the EU.
If such illegal inflows of bicycles to Vietnam are not prevented, the amount of bicycles exported from Vietnam to the EU will possibly increase abnormally, which will make European bicycle manufacturers worried. So the EU will possibly re-impose an anti-dumping tax on Vietnamese bicycles or introduce strict sanction on most Vietnamese bicycle exporters. If this happens, it will badly affect not only the domestic bicycle sector but also Vietnam's trade relations with the EU, making it difficult for other sectors to export to the EU market.
How will Vietnamese authorities prevent illegal transportation of bicycles from other countries to Vietnam?
First of all, the State's management authorities must provide the Vietnam Bicycle and Motorbike Association and domestic bicycle businesses with sufficient information about related laws of Vietnam and the EU and make them aware of the consequences of illegal transportation of bicycles to Vietnam for tax-free export to the EU. The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade is taking actions to prevent the illegal inflow of bicycles and other kinds of products from other countries to Vietnam in order to protect lawful businesses and strengthen Vietnam's prestige in trade relations with foreign countries.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has released a document requiring other concerned ministries and departments to tighten cooperation in preventing illegal transportation of bicycles from other countries to Vietnam. The ministry also requests the governments of provinces to provide guidelines for concerned authorities to make domestic and foreign investors aware of the bad consequences of illegal transportation of foreign-made bicycles and other kinds of products to Vietnam. Localities must tighten the assessment of foreign investment projects in the bicycle sector in order not to grant a license to new projects that aim to evade the anti-dumping tax.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade is willing to coordinate with the EC's investigators to survey and deal strictly with cases related to illegal transportation of bicycles from other countries to Vietnam for tax-free export to the EU.
The Vietnam Bicycle and Motorbike Association must strengthen its role in supervising and assessing the actual capacity of bicycle manufacturers in comparison with the export volume of bicycles from Vietnam to the EU. This allows the association to find out on a timely basis the signs of illegal transportation of bicycles from other countries to Vietnam.
On their side, domestic bicycle businesses must take the initiative in protecting their legitimate interests against illegal transportation of bicycles to Vietnam. They must inform anything that is found to be related to illegal transportation to the Vietnam Bicycle and Motorbike Association and concerned State authorities./.
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