RCEP Market

How to take advantage of RCEP to increase exports of Vietnamese goods to Australia?

  • Solutions to leverage opportunities from specific commitments of RCEP

The commitments on market opening in RCEP create many opportunities for Vietnamese export enterprises when exporting to the Australian market. Therefore, enterprises need to learn about the relevant contents of RCEP to be able to take full advantage of the benefits from the Agreement:

- Learning about the tariff commitments for Vietnam in Australia's Tariff Commitments Schedule in Annex I of the RCEP Agreement. However, it should be noted that Australia's preferential tariff commitments in the RCEP Commitments Schedule are the minimum opening level. In fact, Australia may open (reduce or eliminate tariffs) earlier than the committed roadmap. Therefore, to know exactly the preferential tariff rates that Australia applies to each Vietnamese product, businesses need to check the preferential tariffs under RCEP that Australia applies to Vietnam every year. Businesses can look up tariffs at the following sources:

+ Website of Australian Border Force: https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exporting-and-manufacturing/tariff-classification/current-tariff 

+ Market Access Map (Macmap) by the International Trade Center (ITC): https://www.macmap.org/

+ Tariff Analysis Online (TAO) tool by WTO: https://tao.wto.org/

- Learning about rules of origin and procedures for certification of origin to enjoy RCEP tariff preferences in Chapter 3: Rules of Origin. In addition, Vietnam also issued a regulation on RCEP’s Rules of Origin in Circular No. 05/2022/TT-BCT dated February 18, 2022. Businesses need to carefully study this Circular and related guiding documents to fully meet the rules of origin and origin certification procedures to enjoy RCEP preferential tariffs when exporting to Australia.

- Learning about other related issues such as Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation (Chapter 4), Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (Chapter 5), Standards, Technical Regulations, and Conformity Assessment Procedures (Chapter 6), Trade Remedies (Chapter 7), etc. to ensure compliance with RCEP regulations and take advantage of the rights and protect the legitimate interests of businesses.

  • Technical and market solutions

In order to export to the Australian market, Vietnamese products have to overcome a lot of barriers that the RCEP could hardly address, especially:

- Australian import requirements and regulations such as food hygiene and safety standards, regulations on labeling and marking of goods, etc.;

- Australian consumer needs and tastes;

- Consumption trends and import and distribution channels of Australian goods.

Therefore, in order to access the Australian market, Vietnamese businesses need to pay attention to:

- Study in detail, update regularly and ensure full compliance with Australian import regulations and procedures;

- Carefully study the Australian market (especially niche markets), learn in detail about the tastes and needs of consumers in this country, thereby researching to improve product designs and quality to suit market needs.

- Study ways to build and promote brands for Vietnamese products in the Australian market;

- Study the mechanisms and methods of approaching channels/distributors of goods in Australia, especially e-commerce channels which are increasingly popular and becoming the main shopping trend of Australian consumers.

  • Solutions to enhance competitiveness

Improving competitiveness is a sustainable solution for Vietnamese products to develop in both domestic and export markets. In order to achieve this, businesses need to pay special attention to the following solutions:

- Investing in technology, increasing technology content in production and processing (through joint ventures, association with domestic and foreign researchers and businesses; upgrading production process and technology, etc.);

- Investing in human resources: have a systematic plan for labor training, foster capacity for key staffs, technology engineers and market research specialists;

- Researching to improve quality, design, etc. of products to meet the demands and tastes of Australian consumers;

- Focusing on building brands, promoting products to Australian importers and consumers through different platforms (fairs, exhibitions, social media advertising, etc.) as well as focusing on warranty and after-sales policies, etc. to attract Australian consumers

Source: Center for WTO and International Trade

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