Day: July 3, 2021

Over three tonnes of Bac Giang lychees meeting GlobalGAP standard recently passed customs clearance at Frankfurt airport, Germany thanks to a transaction via the Vietnamese e-commerce platform Voso.

It was the first time an agricultural product of Vietnam had been shipped to Europe through the “cross-border e-commerce” model on a platform developed and operated by the Southeast Asian nation, via a cooperation programme among the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Vietnam E-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency, Voso and Viettel Post.

Voso launched its Voso Global last March, offering high-quality Vietnamese farm produce to consumers in foreign markets, especially overseas Vietnamese. They could place orders and make payments via an international payment system. Products will be carried by air to Germany via Viettel Post’s partners and delivered to customers within 4-5 days.

Head of the Vietnam E-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency Dang Hoang Hai said previously, Vietnam exported farm produce to Asia and Europe, mostly via international e-commerce platforms like Amazon.

Now via Voso, Vietnam’s e-commerce industry has made a stride in bringing fresh and quality products to demanding markets like Europe.

General Director of the Viettel Post Tran Trung Hung said in the immediate future, the agency will partner with Voso to build its Vietnamese and English versions, thus better serving overseas Vietnamese in Europe and European consumers.

As the European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement already took effect, exporters, local enterprises, cooperatives and individuals with quality products could have more chances if they optimise cross-border e-commerce.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The total retail sales of goods and consumer services in Ho Chi Minh City in June was estimated at over 81.4 trillion VND (3.53 billion USD), down nearly 8 percent month-on-month and 5.1 percent year-on-year, reported the municipal Statistics Office.

The office attributed that to social distancing measures in Go Vap district and Thanh Loc ward, District 12, resulting in limited retail activities.

Specifically, retail revenue topped 48.3 trillion VND (2.1 billion USD), down 4.7 percent monthly and up 1.9 percent yearly.

Revenue from dining and lodging services slumped by 20 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

Tourism receipts reached 80 billion VND, down 71.5 percent monthly and 18.4 percent yearly.

However, the total retail of goods and services still went up 7.3 percent annually to more than 541.6 trillion VND in the first six months of this year.

The city has built a plan to ensure goods supply for local residents and follow pandemic prevention and control measures in trade.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

E-commerce platforms must be electronically connected with tax management agencies from the beginning of next year, not from next month, as the tax watchdog aims to better collect taxes from sellers operating on the platforms.

The deadline delay was part of a roadmap recently issued by the General Department of Taxation to implement Circular No 40/2021/TT-BTC issued on June 1 and taking effect from the beginning of August about value-added tax, personal income tax and tax management of individual sellers.

Under the circular, e-commerce platforms would be responsible for sellers’ tax declarations and payments, provisions that have received complaints about their reasonableness and consistency with established tax regulations.

The circular also dictated that e-commerce platforms must provide information on sellers, including revenue, banking accounts and products, to tax management agencies to aid tax collection.

Some have complained that this regulation would cause great difficulties for e-commerce platforms.

According to the Vietnam e-Commerce Association, e-commerce platforms only provide technology infrastructure to connect sellers and buyers and help them conduct transactions. E-commerce platforms do not pay the sellers, meaning e-commerce platforms are not responsible for declaring and paying taxes on behalf of the sellers.

Some regulations were infeasible and could have large impacts on e-commerce platforms and thousands of sellers, the association said.

Dau Anh Tuan, head of the legal department under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the regulation could be a burden on the rapidly-developing e-commerce sector with huge potential in Vietnam.

Implementing this regulation would increase costs for e-commerce platforms, Tuan said.

He said that under the Law on Personal Income Tax, organisations and individuals were responsible for declaring and paying their own taxes. Asking e-commerce platforms to declare and pay taxes on behalf of the sellers could be inconsistent, he said.

Vietnam’s e-commerce market is developing rapidly and grew by 15 percent in 2020 to a value of 3.2 billion USD, the highest in Southeast Asia.

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a golden opportunity for e-commerce platform development, however, many organisations and individuals have not fulfilled their tax obligations despite their huge online revenue.

In response to the complaints, the General Department of Taxation said that the regulation would be implemented following a roadmap, not from the beginning of August when the circular came into force.

From now to August 1, the General Department of Taxation will work with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to survey several e-commerce platforms to prepare a data format and collect opinions from e-commerce platforms.

From August 1 to October 1, the General Department of Taxation will propose a standard data format for information connectivity.

From October 1, 2021, to January 1, 2022, the General Department of Taxation and e-commerce platforms will carry out upgrades to ensure smooth electronic information connectivity.

From the beginning of next year, e-commerce platforms will be electronically connected with tax management agencies.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Tourism experts said if Vietnam succeeds in piloting the ‘COVID-19 vaccine passport’ policy, the sector can bounce back, welcoming back both domestic and foreign visitors.

Associate Professor Dr Tran Dac Phu, senior advisor at the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre under the Health Ministry, said the passport is actually a certificate for a person having fully vaccinated against the disease following recommendations of vaccine producers or State management agencies.

Vietnam needs a strategy to recognise vaccine passports with other countries in bilateral or regional forms, he said, adding that in the immediate future, the mechanism will be piloted with a few countries posting high vaccination rates, and with vaccines of high immunogenicity, which are approved by reputable health organisations.

Nguyen Van Gia, an expert in tourist destination development, noted the application of vaccine passports has contributed to eradicating travel barriers and creating a driving force for socio-economic growth by reopening tourism. In Europe, Italy, Greece, Spain, Croatia and Iceland have opened their doors for tourists from the US.

‘Vaccine passport’ pilot to open up recovery opportunities for tourism: experts hinh anh 2

Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)

Nguyen Tien Dat, Director of the AZA Travel Company, suggested piloting vaccine passports first in the domestic market before extending to foreign markets. He said the first destination can be Phu Quoc island and foreign visitors can be received via golf or resort tours.

Although many countries around the world have implemented vaccine passports, the World Health Organization (WHO) has yet to support the idea of issuing such passports to promote travel. The WHO believes that now is not the time to use vaccine passports, because there are still many unknowns related to the vaccination effectiveness in preventing COVID-19, while the supply of vaccines remains limited.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said the mechanism will only be effective when herd immunity, is realised, meaning 70 percent of the population is vaccinated.

The Ministry of Health has set out three options for the implementation of the vaccine passport scheme that targets three groups – Vietnamese people stuck abroad; foreigners entering Vietnam to invest and do business; and international tourists.

Currently, the rate of vaccination against COVID-19 in Vietnam is to low for herd immunity. In such condition, the implementation of vaccine passports for foreign arrivals without tight monitoring is likely to cause an uncontrolled spreading of the disease in the community./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam saw 6,340 traffic accidents taking place between December 15, 2020 and June 14, 2021, claiming 3,192 lives and injuring 4,475 people.

These figures represented annual decreases of 8.38 percent, 2.74 percent and 11.29 percent, respectively.

In the period, 6,278 road accidents (99 percent) killed 3,147 people and left 4,465 injured. Their causes were mainly speeding and driving in the wrong lanes, among others.

Meanwhile, 38 railway accidents left 30 dead and nine injured, while twenty-four accidents on waterways claimed 15 lives and injured one.

Also during the reviewed months, traffic police handled more than 1.73 million violations on road, railway and waterway, with total fines of nearly 1.72 trillion VND (75 million USD), revoking 167,761 driving licences, and temporarily seizing 298,008 vehicles.

Compared to last year’s same period, the number of violations was down 5.57 percent, while the total fines increased by 6.16 percent.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has sent a document to the Transport Ministry proposing the suspension of flights to and from Tho Xuan airport in Thanh Hoa province, and flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Phu Bai in Thua Thien-Hue province and between HCM City and Chu Lai in Quang Nam province.

Accordingly, flights to and from Tho Xuan airport and HCM City-Phu Bai flights will be suspended from 0am on July 4, and those between Ho Chi Minh City and Chu Lai and vice versa from 0am on July 5.

The CAAV said the proposal was raised by authorities of the central provinces of Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

Special flights carrying medical staff and supplies will be considered by CAVV.

As of 12:30pm on July 3, Vietnam confirmed 16,853 local and 1,837 imported cases. The numbers of recoveries and deaths amounted to 7,395 and 84, respectively.

Among active patients undergoing treatment, 260 tested negative for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 once, 138 twice and 89 thrice.

The number of cases since the fourth COVID-19 wave hit the country in late April reached 15,283, of whom 4,621 had been given the all-clear.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Ho Chi Minh City should make every effort to place its current COVID-19 outbreak under control by August, requested Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh at a July 2 meeting with the municipal steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control.

The official also ordered effective implementation of a large-scale health screening and vaccination drive. The city has to arrange goods distribution to ensure the supply of necessities serving locals during the period of tightened pandemic prevention measures.

HCM City urged to exert every effort to control pandemic by August hinh anh 2

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh at the meeting. (Photo: VNA)

On the same day, Binh attended a ceremony to receive 279 billion VND (12.17 million USD) worth of donations from 23 organisations, businesses, and individuals to the municipal Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Committee and the committee for the mobilisation, receipt and distribution of the city’s COVID-19 prevention and control fund.

According to the chapter, between March 20 and July 1, the municipal VFF Ccommittee received more than 867 billion VND in cash and kind, and pandemic prevention equipment.

As of 12pm on July, HCM City had recorded 5,187 COVID-19 cases.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Border guards in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau on July 3 discovered two ships carrying 25 Vietnamese fishermen from Malaysia.

Specifically, they detected ships BV 98766TS and BV 95824 TS about 20 nautical miles southwest of Nghinh Phong cape in Vung Tau city at 4am.

Later, they ordered ships to anchor at an inland waterway port in Sao Mai – Ben Dinh area in the city and contacted the provincial Centre for Disease Control to spray disinfectant over the ships and send the fishermen to quarantine facilities in line with regulations.

The case is under investigation.

Source: Vietnam News Agency