Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Often considered non-tariff barriers, SPS has been viewed as a major hurdle forVietnamese exporters to overcome even after the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement(EVFTA) went into full effect in August 2020.
According to experts, finding ways to meet the bloc's SPS was key to sustainabletrade of agricultural products with the EU, a major market for Vietnameseproducers.
Two years since the EVFTA went into effect, there has been significantimprovement between Việt Nam and the EU, especially in the agriculture sectors,with the former's exports to the EU reaching over 3.2 billion USD, an 11% increasecompared to the same period last year.
"We have high hopes for the EVFTA, as well as other FTAs, to be thedriving force for Việt Nam's economic growth in the 2021-35 period," saidHuynh Minh Vu, a deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute forDevelopment Studies.
"However, there will be an increase of SPS and other Technical Barriers toTrade (TBT), which we must overcome as an exporter," he said.
Trinh Ba Cuong, secretary-general of the Food and Foodstuff Association of HCMCity (FFA) said SPS for developed markets such as the EU remained a challengefor Vietnamese businesses, in particular for those in seafood and foodprocessing.
There have been instances in which Vietnamese products were found to containover-the-limit chemical exposure with some products given warnings and forcedto be recalled.
"What it meant was that our businesses failed to meet the EU's SPS andtherefore will not be granted entry to the bloc's markets or worse, facingextremely expensive recalls of their products," he added.
In order to steer clear of trouble, he advised Vietnamese exporters tocarefully study the SPS and their targeted markets. He said once they are ableto meet the EU's standards, Vietnamese products will likely be acceptedeverywhere else.
Le Thanh Hoa, a director from the Vietnam SPS Office, urged businesses toinvest in dedicated production centres, additional management and technicaltraining with a focus on limiting chemical exposures and contamination.
"Vietnamese businesses must pay attention to ensuring product safety,controlling the usage of agricultural chemicals and implementing GAP with theEU's SPS in mind," Hoa said.
In addition, businesses must strictly follow the EU's regulations on productlabelling, said Cao Xuan Quan, from the Ministry of Science and Technology. Hesaid it's mandatory to list all the required information such as ingredients,allergic agents and product origins./.
VNA
