Vietnam became the full member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on November 7, 2006. To match our policies with the WTO regulations, lawyers hold the heaviest responsibilities, Professor Peter Naray, leader of European consultants group, stressed at a seminar on WTO commitments and impacts on the legal system of Vietnam, which was held by Multilateral Trade Assistance Project (MUTRAP) in coordination with the Vietnam Lawyers Association on December 5.
After 11 years of negotiation, Vietnam signed a 200-page document to join the WTO, including over 70 pages related to Vietnam’s commitments and obligations. Prof Peter Naray emphasised the first legal obligation of Vietnam is to apply common duties and commitments throughout Vietnam’s territory.
“Vietnam is a sizable economy with 64 provinces and cities, and each province or city has its own regulations and policies. Vietnam needs immediate solutions to put an end to the conflict between local laws and central laws. The WTO requires the obligatory application and observance of all WTO commitments on the Vietnamese territory. This is a very heavy duty for the law sector of Vietnam,” Peter Naray pointed.
Naray said at present there is a certain conflict between the Vietnamese laws and the WTO regulations but in the future the Vietnamese cannot be on the wrong side of the WTO regulations. In certain cases, Vietnam can require a delay.
WTO entry requires Vietnam to carry out a very serious survey into its legal system, especially the customs issues as this is a core issue of the WTO. All preferential tariffs under the regulation of the WTO must be explained clearly and logically. At present, Vietnam still use official documents from senior authorities to lower ones but this type of document will no longer be in use at a later time.
Another concern for the lawyers is the announcement of publicity. WTO regulations oblige all member countries to make public announcements for all laws, regulations and other solutions. WTO committees will review several provisions in the new law to compare with the old one to find possible conflicts. If any problem is found, they will sit together to discuss them. And, of course, joint discussions do not always bring in satisfactory results but this is the regulation of the WTO.
Vietnam has joined the WTO but the country, together with China, is seen running a non-market economy. Therefore, the WTO imposes regulations on such economies like antidumping tax and countermeasures. Mr. Naray stressed that this is a complicated problem because there are many laws and regulations related to intellectual property, auditing and business. The role of Vietnamese lawyers is checked in this step.
“WTO always follows up a principle, that is, a transparency. If lawyers work for the private sector of government offices, they can contribute their ideas to the development and orientation of their economies into market countries. We can discover whether our economy is a market economy or not by defining prices. This is an important matter for the Government as well as lawyers,” Nary stressed.
Thu Huyen
Vietnamese
