Vietnam WTO Commitment for service sectors
Below is a table summarising certain market access commitments relating various service sectors of Vietnam
to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
For ease of reference, I have calculated (1) all the timing commitments by
Vietnam using the date that Vietnam joined WTO (i.e. 11 January 2007) and (2)
all the foreign ownership limits applicable to the relevant service sectors. Reference to CPC number is reference to the Provisional
Central Product Classification.
Sectors and sub-sectors
|
Foreign ownership
limitation
| ||
1. BUSINESS SERVICES
| |||
A. Professional Services
| |||
(a) Legal services
(CPC 861, excluding:
- participation
in legal proceedings in the capacity of defenders or representatives of their
clients before the courts of Viet Nam;
- legal
documentation and certification services of the laws of Viet Nam)
|
Unlimited
|
||
(b) Accounting and auditing and bookkeeping services (CPC 862)
|
Unlimited
|
||
(c) Taxation services
(CPC 863)
|
Unlimited
|
||
(d) Architectural
services
(CPC
8671)
|
Unlimited
|
||
(e) Engineering services
(CPC 8672)
(f) Integrated engineering services
(CPC 8673)
|
Unlimited
|
||
(g) Urban planning and urban landscape architectural services (CPC
8674)
|
·
99.99%
until 11 January 2009
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2009
|
||
(i) Veterinary services
(CPC 932)[1]
|
Not clear
|
||
B. Computer and Related Services (CPC 841-845, CPC 849)
|
Unlimited
|
||
C. Research
and Development Services
| |||
(a) R&D services on natural sciences (CPC 851)
|
Unlimited
|
||
E. Rental/Leasing
Services without Operators
| |||
(b) Relating to aircraft (CPC 83104)
|
Unlimited
|
||
(d) Relating to other machinery and equipment (CPC 83109)
|
30%
|
||
F. Other Business Services
| |||
(a) Advertising services (CPC 871, excluding advertising for
cigarettes)
|
·
51%
until 1 January 2009
·
Unlimited
as from 1 January 2009
|
||
(b) Market research services (CPC 864, excluding 86402)
|
·
51%
until 1 January 2009
·
Unlimited
as from 1 January 2009
|
||
(c) Management consultant services (CPC 865)
|
Unlimited
|
||
(d) Services related to management consulting
- CPC 866, except CPC 86602
- Arbitration
and conciliation services for commercial disputes between businesses
(CPC
86602**)
|
Unlimited, except 30% for Arbitration and conciliation services for
commercial disputes between businesses (CPC 86602**) until 11 January 2010
|
||
(e) Technical
testing and analysis services
(CPC
8676, excluding conformity testing of transport vehicles and certification of
transport vehicles)
|
Not
clear
|
||
(f) Services incidental to agriculture, hunting and forestry (CPC
881)[2]
|
51%
|
||
(h) Services incidental to
mining (CPC 883)
1. The commitments specified hereunder are not understood to cover
the following activities: supply of equipment, materials and chemicals,
supply base services, offshore/marine support vessels, accommodation and
catering, helicopter services.
2. The commitments specified hereunder are made without prejudice
to the rights of the Government of Viet Nam to set out the necessary
regulations and procedures to regulate the oil and gas related activities
carried out within the territory or jurisdiction of Viet Nam in full
conformity with the rights and obligations of Viet Nam under the GATS.
|
·
49%
until 11 January 2010
·
51%
from 11 January 2010 until 11 January 2012
·
Unlimited
as from 11 January 2012
|
||
(i) Services incidental to manufacturing (CPC 884 and 885)
|
·
30%
until 11 January 2010
·
50%
from 11 January 2010 to 11 January 2015
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2015
|
||
(m) Related scientific and technical consulting services[3]
(CPC 86751, 86752 and 86753 only)
|
·
49%
until 11 January 2009
·
51%
from 11 January 2009 to 11 January 2011
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2011
|
||
(n) Maintenance and repair of equipment (not including maritime
vessels, aircraft or other transport equipment)
(CPC 633) |
·
49%
until 11 January 2010
·
51%
from 11 January 2010 to 11 January 2012
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2012
|
||
2. Communication services
| |||
B. Courier Services (CPC 7512**)
* Express delivery services,[4]
i.e. services consisting of collection, sorting, transport and delivery,
whether for domestic or foreign
destination, of:
(a) Written communication[5],
on any kind of physical medium, including:
- Hybrid mail
service;
- Direct mail.
Except for the handling of items of written communication
the price of which is less than:
- 10 times the tariff for the handling of a
standard domestic letter in the first weight level for domestic shipments;
- US$9 for international shipments;
provided that the gross weight of these items is less than
2,000 grams.
(b) Parcels[6]
and other goods.
* Handling of non-addressed items.
|
·
51%
until 11 January 2012
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2012
|
||
c. Telecommunication Services
For
the purpose of these commitments, a "non-facilities based service
supplier" means a service supplier which does not own transmission
capacity but contracts for such capacity including submarine cable capacity, including on a long-term basis,
from a facilities-based supplier. A non facilities-based supplier is not
otherwise excluded from owning telecommunications equipment within their
premises and permitted public service provision points (POP).
Basic telecommunication
services
(a) Voice telephone services
(CPC 7521)
(b) Packet-switched data transmission services (CPC 7523**)
(c) Circuit-switched data transmission services (CPC 7523**)
(d) Telex services (CPC 7523**)
(e) Telegraph services (CPC 7523**)
(f) Facsimile services (CPC 7521** + 7529**)
(g) Private leased circuit services (CPC 7522** + 7523**)
(o*) Other services:Videoconference services
|
Non facilities-based services:
·
51%
until 11 January 2010
·
65%
from 11 January 2010
Facilities-based services: 49%
|
||
Basic telecommunication
services:
(o*) Other services
- Virtual Private Network (VPN)[9]
|
Non facilities-based services:
70%
Facilities-based services: 49%
|
||
Value-added services
(h) Electronic mail (CPC 7523 **)
(i) Voice mail (CPC 7523 **)
(j) On-line information and database retrieval (CPC 7523**)
(k) Electronic data interchange (EDI) (CPC 7523**)
(l) Enhance/value-added facsimile services, incl store and
forward, store and retrieve (CPC 7523**)
(m) Code and protocol conversion
(n) On-line information and data processing (incl. transaction
processing)
(CPC 843**)
|
Non facilities-based services:
·
51%
until 11 January 2010
·
65%
from 11 January 2010
Facilities-based services: 50%
|
||
Value added services
(o) Other
|
Non facilities-based services:
·
51%
until 11 January 2010
·
65%
from 11 January 2010
Facilities-based services:
50%
|
||
D. Audiovisual
Services
With
regard to motion picture production, distribution and projection services,
all films must have their content censored by Viet Nam's competent
authorities.
| |||
(a) Motion picture production (CPC 96112, excl. video tape)
|
51%
|
||
- Motion picture distribution (CPC 96113, excl. video tape)
|
51%
|
||
(b) Motion picture projection service (CPC 96121)
|
51%
|
||
(e) Sound recording
|
30%
|
||
3. Construction and related engineering
services
| |||
A. General construction work for building (CPC 512)
B. General construction work for civil engineering
(CPC 513)
C. Installation and assembly work
(CPC 514, 516)
D. Building completion and finishing work
(CPC 517)
E. Other (CPC 511, 515, 518)
|
Unlimited
|
||
4. distribution services
Measures applicable to all sub-sectors in
Distribution Services:
Cigarettes
and cigars, books, newspapers and magazines, video records on whatever
medium, precious metals and stones, pharmaceutical products and drugs,[11]
explosives, processed oil and crude oil, rice, cane and beet sugar are
excluded from the commitments.
| |||
A. Commission agents' services (CPC 621,
61111, 6113, 6121)
B. Wholesale
trade services (CPC 622, 61111, 6113, 6121)
C. Retailing services (CPC 631 + 632,
61112, 6113, 6121)[12]
|
·
99.99%
until 1 January 2009
·
Unlimited
as from 1 January 2009
|
||
D. Franchising services (CPC 8929)
|
·
99.99%
until 1 January 2009
·
Unlimited
as from 1 January 2009
|
||
5 educationAL services
Only in technical, natural sciences and technology, business
administration and business studies, economics, accounting, international law
and language training fields.
| |||
B. Secondary education services (CPC 922)
|
30%
|
||
C. Higher education services (CPC 923)
D. Adult education (CPC 924)
E. Other education services (CPC 929 including foreign language
training)
|
·
99.99%
until 1 January 2009
·
Unlimited
from 1 January 2009
|
||
6. ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
| |||
A. Sewage
Services (CPC 9401)
|
·
51%
until 11 January 2011
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2011
|
||
B. Refuse disposal services (CPC 9402)
|
·
51%
until 11 January 2011
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2011
|
||
D. Other services
- Cleaning services of exhaust gases (CPC 94040) and noise
abatement services (CPC 94050)
|
·
51%
until 11 January 2011
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2011
|
||
- Environmental impact assessment
services
(CPC 94090*) |
·
51%
until 11 January 2011
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2011
|
||
7. FINANCIAL SERVICES
| |||
A. Insurance
and Insurance-Related Services
a. Direct insurance
(a) Life insurance, excl. health insurance services
(b) Non-life insurance services
b. Reinsurance and retrocession
c. Insurance
intermediation (such as brokerage and agency)
d. Services auxiliary to insurance (such as consultancy,
actuarial, risk assessment and claim settlement)
|
Unlimited
|
||
B. Banking and Other Financial Services
| |||
(a) Acceptance of deposits and other repayable funds from the
public
(b) Lending of all types
(c) Financial leasing
(d) All payment and money transmission services,
(e) Guarantees and commitments
(f) Trading for own account or for account
of customers
(h) Money broking
(i) Asset management, such
as cash or portfolio management,
all forms of collective investment management,
pension fund management, custodial,
depository and trust services
(j) Settlement and clearing
services for financial assets
(k) Provision and transfer of
financial information, and financial data processing and related software by suppliers of other
financial services
(l) Advisory,
intermediation and other auxiliary financial
services on all activities listed in subparagraphs
from (a) to (k), including credit reference
and analysis, investment and portfolio research
and advice, advice on acquisitions and on
corporate restructuring and strategy
|
·
30%
for joint stock banks
·
Not
clear for finance companies and finance-leasing
companies
|
||
C. Securities
(f) Trading for own account or for account of customers
(g) Participation in issues of all kinds of securities incl.
under-writing and placement as an agent (publicly or privately), provision of
services related to such issues
(i) Asset management, such as portfolio management, all forms of
collective investment management, pension fund management, custodial
depository and trust services
(j) Settlement and clearing services for securities, derivative
products, and other securities-related instruments
(k) Provision and transfer of financial information, and related
software by suppliers of securities
services
(l) Advisory, intermediation and other auxiliary
securities-related excluding (f), including investment and portfolio research
and advice, advice on acquisitions and on corporate restructuring and
strategy (for other services under (l), refer to (l) under banking sector)
|
·
49%
until 11 January 2012
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2012
|
||
8. health related and social services
| |||
A. Hospital services (CPC
9311)
B. Medical and dental
services (CPC 9312)
|
Unlimited
|
||
9. tourism and TRAVEL related services
| |||
A. Hotel and restaurant including (1) Lodging services (CPC
64110); (2) Catering food (CPC 642) and
(3) drink services (CPC 643)
|
Unlimited
|
||
B. Travel agencies and tour operator services
(CPC 7471)
|
99.99%
|
||
10. recreational, cultural and sporting
services
| |||
A. Entertainment services
(including theatre, live bands and circus services)
(CPC 9619)
|
·
30%
until 11 January 2012
·
49%
from 11 January 2012
|
||
D. Other
Electronic games business
(CPC 964**)
|
49%
|
||
11. Transport SERVICES
| |||
A. Maritime Transport Services
(a) Passenger transportation less cabotage(CPC 7211)
(b) Freight transportation less cabotage (CPC 7212)
|
(a) Companies established the purpose of
operating a fleet under the national flag of Viet Nam:
·
30%
until 11 January 2009
·
49%
from 11 January 2009
|
||
(b) Other forms of commercial presence for the supply of
international maritime transport services[13]:
·
51%
until 11 January 2012
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2012.
|
|||
Maritime Auxiliary Services
- Container handling services
(CPC 7411)[14] |
50%
|
||
- Customs Clearance
Services[15]
|
·
51%
until 11 January 2012
·
99.99
from 11 January 2012
|
||
- Container Station and Depot Services[16]
|
·
51%
until 11 January 2014
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2014
|
||
B
. Internal Waterways Transport
(a) Passenger transport (CPC 7221)
(b) Freight transport (CPC 7222)
|
49%
|
||
C.
Air Transport Services
(a) Sales and marketing air products services
|
30%
|
||
(b) Computer reservation services
|
Unlimited
|
||
(c) Maintenance and repair of aircraft (CPC 8868**)
|
·
51%
until 11 January 2012
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2012
|
||
E. Rail
Transport Services
(a) Passenger transportation (CPC 7111)
(b) Freight transportation (CPC 7112)
|
49%
for freight transportation.
|
||
F. Road Transport
Services
(a) Passenger transportation (CPC 7121+7122)
(b) Freight transportation (CPC 7123)
|
·
49%
until 11 January 2010
·
may
be 51% from 11 January 2010[17]
|
||
H. Services
Auxiliary to all Modes of Transport
(a) Container handling services, except services provided at
airports (part of CPC 7411)
|
50%.
|
||
(b) Storage and warehouse services (CPC 742)
(c) Freight transport agency services (CPC 748)[18]
|
·
51%
until 11 January 2014
·
Unlimited
from 11 January 2014
|
||
(d) Other (part of CPC 749)[19]
|
·
49%
until 11 January 2010
·
51%
from 11 January 2010 to 11 January 2014
·
99.99%
from 11 January 2014
|
[1] Excluding keeping
micro-organism strain for veterinary.
[2] Excluding services relating to investigation, evaluation and exploitation
for natural forest including exploitation of woods and wild, rare and precious
animals hunting and trapping, aerial photographing, aerial seed planting and
aerial chemicals spraying and dusting, micro-bial plant, animal genetic
resource in agriculture. For the
avoidance of ambiguity, animal husbandry and the improvement of breeding stock
are included in this commitment.
[3] The supply of services related to prospecting, surveying,
exploration and exploitation is subject to the applicable laws and regulations
of Viet Nam.
[4] Express delivery services may include, in addition to greater speed
and reliability, value added elements such as collection from point of origin,
personal delivery to addressee, tracing and tracking, possibility of changing
the destination and address in transit, confirmation of receipt.
[5] Written communication includes letters, postcards, hand writings,
or printed matters such as books, newspapers, periodicals, magazines, or
commercial documents such as bills and invoices, etc.
[6] Books, catalogues are included hereunder.
[7] Broadcasting is defined as the uninterrupted chain of transmission
required for the distribution of TV and radio programme signals to the general
public, but does not cover contribution links between operators.
[8] Services providing internet access service (IAS) suppliers with
connection between them and to the international Internet backbone.
[9] Services, provided on commercial terms, establishing and managing a
private network over public (shared) networks for the purpose of carrying out,
on a non-profit basis, voice and data telecommunications between members of a
closed user group defined prior to the creation of the VPN. Such group may include a corporate group or
organization, or a group of legal entities with an established relationship
affiliated through the pursuit of a common interest. Initial members of a closed user group using
VPN service must be listed in a dialling or routing plan approved by the
Competent Authority and subject to its oversight. VPN service suppliers shall notify to the
Competent Authority changes of membership at least two working weeks prior to
actually commencing commercial service and can commence commercial service
provided that no objection from the Competent Authority is issued during these
two weeks. Members are not allowed to
resell VPN services to unaffiliated third parties. Virtual private networks are not allowed to
carry/transfer traffic of/between unaffiliated third parties. VPN services can be offered by licensed foreign-invested
service suppliers bundled with Internet access service and value-added services
from (h) to (n).
[10] Services providing internet access to the end users.
[11] For the purposes of this schedule "pharmaceuticals and
drugs" do not include non-pharmaceutical nutritional supplements in
tablet, capsule or powdered form.
[12] For transparency purposes, this commitment includes multi-level
sales by properly trained and certified Vietnamese individual commission agents
away from a fixed location for which remuneration is received both for the
sales effort and for sales support services that result in additional sales by
other contracted distributors.
[13] "Other forms of
commercial presence for the supply of international maritime transport
services" means the ability for foreign shipping companies to undertake
locally activities which are related to the cargoes carried by them and necessary
for the supply of the integrated transport service to their customers, within which
the
international
maritime transport constitutes a substantial elements and is supplied by the concerned foreign
shipping company.
[14] Public utility concession or licensing procedures may apply in case
of occupation of the public domain.
[15] "Customs clearance services" (alternatively "customs
house brokers’ services") means activities consisting in carrying out on
behalf of another party customs formalities concerning import, export or
through transport of cargoes, whether this service is the main activity of the
service provider or a usual complement of its main activity.
[16] "Container station and depot services" means activities
consisting in storing containers, whether in port areas or inland, with a view
to their stuffing/stripping, repairing and making them available for shipments.
[17] subject to the needs of the market
[18] Including freight forwarding services. These services mean the activities consisting
of organizing and monitoring shipment operations on behalf of shippers, through
the acquisition of transport and related services, preparation of documentation
and provision of business information.
[19] Include the following activities: bill auditing; freight brokerage
services; freight inspection, weighing and sampling services; freight receiving
and acceptance services; transportation document preparation services. These
services are provided on behalf of cargo owners.