Sean Doyle, Ambassador, European Commission (EC) to Vietnam, held a conference in Hanoi yesterday, where he announced that EC has decided to eradicate Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) on Vietnamese footwear that are being exported to EU. The pronouncement will come into effect from January 1, 2009.
Previously the nation was benefited from GSP; under which reduced tariffs were applied on export items, in order to help Vietnam progress.
However, from next year Vietnam will have to pay higher tariffs on footwear, whereas under GSP, tariffs were low.
The GSP supports developing countries to export products at preferential tax rates into the EU.