GOVERNMENTS/ASSOCIATIONS/FASTENER GROUPS 

     On June 30th, representatives from the EU and Vietnam finished the negotiations with each other and completed the signature of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and Investment Protection Agreement, which is believed to further facilitate the economic development in both sides and reinforce bilateral investment ties. These Agreements will be presented to the National Assembly of Vietnam for ratification and presented to the European Parliament for its consent, and to the respective national parliaments of all EU Member States. All relevant regulatory procedures in the aforementioned legislative bodies are expected to be finished in a few months.
 
     Pursuant to the Agreement, the customs duties on fasteners falling within CN codes 7318 included in the list of ”Category A” shall be entirely eliminated and shall be free of any customs duty from the date of entry into force of this Agreement.   The EU’s 3.7% customs duty originally imposed against Vietnamese products categorized into CN code 7318 will be reduced to 0% once the Agreement comes into effect.