Strengthening capacity to become a national information center in host countries, acting as a reliable bridge for domestic and foreign traders and investors. Trade officers must be trained professionally to be able to grasp the import and export needs of goods in each market, closely monitor price fluctuations and promptly provide warning information for Vietnamese export goods at risk of encountering trade barriers in the markets. In particular, there should be measures to support businesses in resolving international trade disputes related to anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and self-defense. With the advantage of understanding the commercial legal system of the host country, trade offices need to promptly detect and support businesses from providing information to arranging meetings and contacts to promptly handle obstacles and barriers in the market. On the other hand, trade counselors need to focus on studying the political situation, markets, goods, policies and import-export management measures of countries in order to advise and recommend policy-oriented solutions for each market. Trade deals are the vanguard to enhance the ability to provide early warning of non-tariff barriers in markets for businesses and relevant state management agencies.
3.3.8 Perfecting the Vietnamese commercial legal system
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Viewpoints and Solutions for Perfecting Human Obligations in International Law and Vietnamese Law
In order to accelerate the integration process into the world economy, Vietnam must be more proactive and active in innovating and perfecting the domestic legal system and policies. Building a legal environment in line with international regulations and standards will have a strong impact on businesses. First of all, businesses will be able to operate in a legal environment that is more similar to the international market as well as their target export markets. Businesses will no longer be confused by the legal regulations of importing countries and their products will also satisfy their quality and technical requirements. Thus, with a complete legal environment in line with international practices, businesses have been trained to overcome legal barriers in the domestic market. The ability to overcome legal barriers in import markets will be much higher. From another perspective, businesses
will also be better protected in the event of international trade disputes if the domestic legal environment is coherent and comprehensive.
Continuing to improve the legal environment also has a dual effect as it encourages the EU and the US to accept Vietnam’s market economy status, which will remain a major barrier to exports; otherwise, we will continue to lose out in trade disputes. In addition to improving the domestic legal environment, the Government’s efforts to create a legal corridor through free trade agreements are vital for businesses. As China and other ASEAN countries rush to negotiate and sign bilateral free trade agreements with each other and with key export markets such as the US, Japan and the EU, new challenges will continue to arise if we do not keep up with this progress. If these free trade agreements are signed without Vietnam's participation, Vietnamese exports to these major export markets will certainly face higher tariff barriers, more difficult market penetration, and lower competitiveness.
Furthermore, the compatibility and harmony between Vietnam's legal system and the principles and regulations of the WTO and other institutions, along with the simplicity, clarity, and predictable consistency of this system are the criteria that determine the attractiveness of the business environment, attracting the participation of domestic and foreign investors while reducing trade fraud. Thereby enhancing the national brand and position, enhancing the competitiveness of exported goods. The State must pay special attention to developing and perfecting legal documents in a number of areas such as: laws on protecting business freedom, on technical assistance, on dispute settlement, environmental standards, etc.
In the anti-dumping issue, proving Vietnam's market economy will largely be based on the legal system and policies, especially related to areas such as finance, accounting, and auditing. The criteria for assessing whether an economy is a market economy or not in countries such as the United States, EU, Canada, Australia, etc. are all assessed based on specific legal regulations of Vietnam.
Therefore, the completion of specific legal systems related to the above-mentioned fields will be the deciding factor in whether countries will apply policies towards non-market economies to Vietnam or not. Along with those policies is a system of trade barriers.
3.3.9 Some other recommendations for each specific industry
Since 2001, the Prime Minister has approved the development strategy and a number of mechanisms and policies to support the implementation of the development strategy of the Vietnamese Textile and Garment industry until 2010. Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is directing the development of the textile and garment industry strategy until 2015 and 2020. To successfully achieve the goals of Vietnam's textile and garment industry in the context of having to deal with increasingly more non-tariff barriers, in addition to supporting the implementation of major programs and projects such as producing 1 billion meters of fabric for export by 2015, developing specialized cotton growing areas to increase cotton self-sufficiency, building synthetic fiber factories, etc., the state needs to have specific mechanisms and policies to improve the design capacity, prototyping and developing new products of the textile and garment industry. Focusing some resources on training high-quality design human resources, improving the capacity of the Fashion Institute, organizing fashion weeks, annual designer competitions of the Textile and Apparel Association, to find new, young, promising designers... It is necessary to strengthen the role of the state in the industry to focus on developing the design stage to be able to offer design value. The construction and development of a system of fashion research institutes is of great significance, not only contributing to improving the capacity of modeling but also helping state management agencies have a strategy in line with the development trend of the world. One of the directions that needs to be prioritized is planning and developing concentrated textile and garment industrial clusters to create a resonance of the strength of textile, accessories and design enterprises. In addition to tax incentives or premises and infrastructure, a clear and long-term strategy can become a driving force to attract investors.
In order to better prepare textile and garment enterprises to overcome technical and environmental barriers, most enterprises believe that we currently lack state-level standards on ecological requirements of textile and garment products.
Such standards will not only create “domestic” pressure on businesses to provide “green” products that meet international standards, but also be a necessary practice for businesses before they truly compete in the international market.
For the leather and footwear industry, on August 6, 2007, the Ministry of Industry approved the Master Plan for the development of the leather and footwear industry until 2010. The three development centers of the three regions, Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, will create momentum for the whole country. In addition to the difficulties and solutions similar to those of textiles and garments, the specific problem of leather and footwear to overcome the barrier is in the supply of raw materials. Although the Government has had many programs and projects to develop raw material areas for the leather and footwear industry nationwide, the results are still very modest. There needs to be a policy that combines the encouragement of industrial livestock farming and concentrated slaughtering to improve the quality of raw leather products with the development of the leather processing industry. It is necessary to promote the formation and development of specialized leather and footwear industrial zones that are qualified to apply advanced techniques and handle environmental issues. Applying advanced technology into production from raw materials to final products is one of the basic directions of Vietnamese leather and footwear to overcome barriers and increase exports.
For aquatic products, planning raw material areas and educating community awareness play a leading role in efforts to overcome barriers to boost exports. On October 25, 2006, the Prime Minister approved the Program for Developing Aquatic Products Exports to 2010 and Vision to 2020. This program focuses on reorganizing production, especially concentrated aquaculture areas, towards focusing on production linkages, creating large output of goods, ensuring quality and food safety standards. For aquatic product exploitation activities, it is necessary to form teams, cooperate, and use logistics service ships to improve production efficiency and product quality. Apply advanced preservation technologies along with building a system of fishing ports and fish markets to minimize post-harvest losses; gradually manage the raw material market well.
One of the specific solutions for the aquaculture industry is to further promote education on awareness and social responsibility in aquaculture and environmental protection, which is of decisive significance. The majority of exported aquatic raw materials are provided by more than 1.6 million households and aquaculture enterprises. They are the ones who will decide whether the quality of aquatic raw materials meets environmental requirements or antibiotic residues. They not only need to be informed promptly and fully about the requirements of import markets, but also need technical support to apply clean technologies to production. Moreover, this support is completely permitted within the WTO framework.
In addition to supporting each industry, the State needs to proactively coordinate with businesses in developing export economic sectors with high intellectual content and added value. These sectors also often face fewer non-tariff barriers.
It is difficult to summarize all the government’s solutions in supporting businesses to overcome non-tariff barriers. The important point is that these solutions must be implemented synchronously to be able to fully exert their effects.
3.4 Some solutions for businesses
The solutions for businesses are aimed at maximizing the resources mentioned in section 1.4 of Chapter 1 of the thesis. These solutions are presented in the direction of the goals they must achieve. Each solution will aim at exploiting and linking the internal resources as well as the associated resources of the business. Businesses need to base on their specific conditions to have appropriate solutions. Similar to section 3.3, most of the solutions can be applied to businesses in all industries. Then, some specific solutions for businesses in each industry will also be mentioned.
3.4.1 Strengthening market research and development capacity
Enterprises need to regularly research and grasp import management policies of export markets and be vigilant against trade barriers of these markets.
This market. More than anyone else, export enterprises are the ones who suffer the most in having to deal with barriers in import markets, so enterprises must continuously learn and thoroughly understand the requirements of export markets to meet these requirements. Especially for the EU and US markets, we are currently facing many difficulties with self-defense and anti-dumping measures. Having full information about the market will help enterprises adjust their product structure and especially prices. If they do not try to "sell" at all costs, they will avoid these damaging lawsuits.
Based on the collected information sources, enterprises carry out market research activities, trade promotion and expand sales distribution channels in foreign markets. Market research and trade promotion activities not only help enterprises expand market penetration but also proactively deal with barriers in import markets. In fact, enterprises today do not really take this issue seriously. This is the reason why Vietnamese enterprises are completely surprised and passive in the recent anti-dumping lawsuits. In the condition that most enterprises are small and medium-sized, unable to conduct actual market surveys, it is necessary to promote less expensive methods such as collecting information via the Internet, collaborating with overseas partners or hiring consultants... Recently, enterprises have had to export mainly by FOB method because commercial enterprises do not have the conditions to directly penetrate foreign markets. In the long term, to maintain and expand the market, it is necessary to expand the distribution system in the import market itself. Enterprises can use Vietnamese businessmen and enterprises abroad as their sales agents. In addition, it is necessary to select and prepare well the conditions to build branches or departments and distribute in the target market of the enterprise.
The practical experience of some successful Vietnamese enterprises in foreign markets is to build the image and position of the enterprise in order to use the push-pull strategy appropriately. To do so, commercial enterprises must invest appropriately in export promotion activities through building
Plan and organize the implementation of export promotion activities. Conduct propaganda and advertising of goods in many forms, actively participate in international fairs and exhibitions held domestically and, if possible, participate in fairs and exhibitions abroad. Build a website on the Internet to promote the image of the enterprise online. Take advantage of state sponsorship by participating in delegations of the Government and ministries on trade promotion, proactively prepare to participate in displaying and introducing goods and establishing sales transaction points at the Vietnam Trade Center abroad invested in and built by the State. The experience of Biti's can be an effective model for footwear enterprises.
Using distribution channels in foreign markets is also an effective solution to deal with barriers because distributors understand the market conditions where they operate and have effective solutions for exporting enterprises. According to the US Bioterrorism Act, enterprises exporting agricultural products must declare in advance to the drug and food import management agency. Therefore, if there are representatives here, the declaration will be more convenient and the market situation will be proactive, creating conditions to increase the export turnover of the enterprise.
Another solution that can also be considered is to form joint ventures with foreign partners in the production or export of products. This will help our exports penetrate markets more easily. Practice shows that in trade disputes related to anti-dumping, anti-subsidy, etc., if there are foreign elements on Vietnam's side, the final decisions will always be more favorable to Vietnam. Joint ventures are also a way to access and absorb more advanced technology and management methods. This could be one of the development directions for seafood enterprises because the position of seafood enterprises is quite good in the value chain thanks to taking the initiative in product supply.
3.4.2 Enhance production capacity and product quality through the application of international standards
Fierce competition on a global scale has forced businesses to continuously invest in technological innovation, improving the competitiveness of businesses and goods when exporting. Although in recent years our country's export capacity has continuously grown, in reality many of our products and businesses have low competitiveness, even when compared to neighboring countries such as Thailand and China. Therefore, when Vietnam's export goods penetrate markets, they mainly reach customers in the low and medium segments. The task for export manufacturing businesses is to improve production technology, increase research and development costs, thereby creating products with high technology content that not only overcome increasingly high standard barriers but also occupy higher segments in foreign markets.
First of all, it is necessary to strengthen the implementation of advanced production processes and quality management systems according to international standards. As mentioned in the forecast of the development trend of barriers in international trade, due to the increasingly high living standards of society, the demand for products manufactured according to quality management processes is increasingly strict. Moreover, the level of protection also makes the barriers to standards increasingly high, such as "green" and "clean" barriers. Meanwhile, although our country's export goods currently meet Vietnamese standards (TCVN), our standards are not recognized in the world market. At the same time, the fact that most mutual recognition agreements with other countries have not been signed has forced Vietnamese goods to comply with the standards and inspection regulations of the importing country. Therefore, the only way for Vietnamese products to overcome this technical barrier is to produce products that meet international standards. The system of technical and environmental regulations related to exported goods is often complex but very specific, detailed and not too difficult to implement.