Outside of a car showroom in Hanoi. (Photo: VNA)
VIVA, and all of its 12 members, have filed a petition to the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance and the central Government.
The petition said the difficulties experienced by the automobile industry dueto a severe decline in demand were not limited to Vietnamese car makers. VIVAsaid orders have been low since November last year, severely affecting carimporters.
VIVA members have been even more affected as inventory remained high whiledemand showed no sign of improving in the foreseeable future, said theassociation.
Vietnam imported 12,842 cars in January this year, three times the numberrecorded during the same period last year. From October to December last year,the number of imported cars also jumped to more than 77,000 vehicles, from25,700 vehicles during the same period in 2021.
In addition, scandals and arrests of many government officials from theDepartment of Vehicle Registration in the last two months delivered yet anotherblow to the domestic car market, putting great financial pressure on VIVA.
The association welcomed the Government's initiative in supporting businessesbut stressed the importance of fairness, saying the reduction in registrationfees should also be applied to imported vehicles.
VIVA said domestic cars have benefited from the last two registration feereductions of 50%, while imported cars sat on the sidelines. The associationwarned this could be viewed as a violation of Clause III.4 of the GeneralAgreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which Vietnam ratified.
Under GATT, Clause III.4 stipulates that members must not apply internal taxesor other internal charges, laws, regulations, and requirements affectingimported or domestic products to afford protection to domestic production./.
VNA
