Besides the challenges (with policies which are numerous in numbers, broad in scope, high binding and with wide impacted areas), Vietnamese manufacturers and exporters’ enforcement of green policies in agricultural and food products sectors also have certain advantages:  

- For common implementation roadmap: Same as the majority of policies implemented within the European Green Deal framework, policies applicable for agricultural and food products normally will have a certain time before officially becoming effective, or have a gradual roadmap until full enforcement. Thus, by regular updates on the progress, businesses may prepare for their compliance with new regulations;

- For effective status: Except for regulations already in place (i.e.: Regulations on organic production and organic labelling entered into force on 1 January 2021, Regulations on veterinary medicine became effective on 28 January 2022, EUDR was in place since 29 June 2023, etc.), most new policies for enforcement of European Green Deal are in draft/proposal form and in the process of public consultation and internal considerations of the EU authority agencies, not yet officially approved/adopted.  Therefore, at this current time, in general, manufacturers and exporters of agricultural and food products to the EU don’t have to comply with any specific green regulations or standards (except for regulations on organic labelling or single regulations on maximum residue). Thus, businesses still have a certain time to study, adapt and get ready for the progress of green policies in this sector;

- For the novelty: Some new measures, proposals in this sector are revisions, upgrades of existing regulations (i.e.: rules relating to pesticides, animal welfare, information provided to consumers, etc.) but not a system of brand new requirements. Vietnamese manufacturers and exporters inherently have to comply with this system, and new proposals often focus on the upgrade or revision of requirement levels (i.e.: reducing maximum level, supplementing kinds of information and methods of information tracking for consumers, etc.). Thus, with sufficient preparation, compliance with new regulations would not be too difficult. 

- For level of impact on common competitiveness:  Although green and sustainable standards are often coupled with higher compliance costs, the majority of green policies in the agricultural and food products sector are commonly applied by the EU to both goods produced at domestic EU and imported from the outside. In this way, not only agricultural and food products from Vietnam are subject to additional compliance fees but also other products bear similar costs. For cases where new standards are only applicable to imported goods (i.e.: EUDR), additional cost at least is the common issue of Vietnamese goods and goods from their competitors. Thus, overall, EU green and sustainable standards once applied are supposed not to result in considerable change in competitiveness in the EU market, at least among different import sources and pricing competition.

 

Source: Report "EU Green Deal and Vietnam's Exports - The case of the agricultural, food and textile industries" – Center for WTO and International Trade

• Ways of European Green Deal’s impacts on Vietnam’s exports
• EU Green Deal and Vietnam's export: Impacted sectors
• EU Green Deal and Vietnam's export: Challenges of awareness change and enhancement
• EU Green Deal and Vietnam's export: Challenge in capability of response, compliance
• EU Green Deal and Vietnam's export: Challenge in the capacity of paying compliance fees