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| Import tax rates on many products have fallen as of January 1st, 2006 under CEPT/AFTA, benefiting consumers. |
VietNamNet – The first day of 2006 saw many significant laws take effect, while import tax rates on many products fell between 0 and 5%.
Laws taking effect on January 1st, 2006 included the Civil Code, Commercial Law, Amended Law on Customs, Law on Import-Export Taxes, Tourism Law, Railway Law, Marine Law, Law on Signing, Entering and Implementing International Treaties, Defense Law, State Auditing Law, Education Law, and Amended Law on Luxury Tax and Value Added Tax.
Education Law
According to the Deputy Minister of Education and Training, Nguyen Van Vong, the Education Law requires up to 27 guiding documents, including eight decrees from the Government, three decisions by the Prime Minister, two joint circulars and 14 documents from the Ministry of Education and Training.
Before the law was ratified by the National Assembly, Professor Nguyen Ngoc Tran, Deputy Chairman of the NA Foreign Affairs Committee had some concerns regarding 38 articles granting powers to the Minister of Education and Training to issue specific regulations. According to Mr. Tran, this will complicate the situation. Of the 15 decrees needed to guide the implementation of the 1998 Education Law, only seven were issued within six years. Mr. Tran fears about the feasibility of the new Education Law may be confirmed, as many necessary supporting documents have not yet been issued.
Car prices
As of January 1st, 2006, luxury tax rates on cars of all makes will be 15% for vehicles with between 16 and 24 seats, 30% on vehicles with between 6 and 15 seats and 50% on vehicles with fewer than 6 seats.
Some automobile manufacturers within the country see this as an opportunity to raise the prices of their products. Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung disagrees. He explains, “If producers start to increase their prices, I will petition the National Assembly to reduce import taxes.”
In fact, under pressure from WTO negotiations, the Ministry of Finance has decided to reduce import taxes on wholly formed cars by between 10% and 90%.
Import tax rates on many products have fallen as of January 1st, 2006 under CEPT/AFTA, benefiting consumers.
Van Tien