A seminar was held in Ho Chi Minh City on December 26 to raise businesses’ awareness of technical barriers to trade (TBTs).

According to Dr. Duong Dinh Giam, Director of the Industrial Policy and Research Institute under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), in the context of international economic integration, the role of standardisation and TBTs has become more important.

Therefore, countries are attempting to set up and maintain a systems of technical measures, which may creating hidden barriers for global trade as well as export commodities, he noted.

Nguyen Binh Giang, head of the ministry’s Import-Export Department, urged domestic enterprises to intensify market research and trade promotion as well as improve product quality and competitiveness in order to overcome these obstacles.

In addition, they need to strictly comply with the rules of origin and increase the rate of locally made materials to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers, he added.

Experts at the seminar stressed the importance of raising businesses’ awareness and providing them with information on TBTs at Vietnam’s key export markets such as Japan, the United States, Russia, the Europe and ASEAN.

They also called for more governmental support for firms, particularly small- and medium-sized ones, to help them renovate and apply international standards in production in a bid to increase their competitiveness in the global market.

TBTs refers to mandatory technical regulations and voluntary standards that define specific characteristics that a product should have, such as its size, shape, design, labeling, marking, packaging, functionality or performance. There are also specific procedures to check whether a product is in compliance with these requirements, which can include, for example, product testing, inspection and certification activities.-VNA