Vietnam, Thailand mull mutual recognition agreement on auto standards

By Dang Khoa   August 11, 2018 | 11:03 pm PT
Vietnam, Thailand mull mutual recognition agreement on auto standards
Road leads to gateway of Tan Son Nhat Airport after heavy rain in June 2018. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran
Thailand has proposed the signing of a mutual recognition agreement (MRA) for automobile standards with Vietnam.

Thai Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong told the Bangkok Post that state units will be assigned to discuss the MRA further with Vietnam’s Transport Ministry.

The move follows the impacts of Vietnam's government Decree 116 that took effect this year, setting tough conditions for car imports. The decree caused a drop in car imports.

However, in March this year, the government removed a condition for local testing of autos. According to Minister Sontirat, an MRA would help cut overlapping testing processes and reduce both cost and delivery time for Thailand’s auto exporters.

At a joint trade committee meeting between the two nations in Hanoi on August 3, Thailand also proposed that Vietnam’s auto industry uses parts made in Thailand, the Post reported.

More than 143,000 autos were sold in Vietnam in the first seven months of this year, over 124,700 of them locally assembled and 23,700 imported ones, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA).

VAMA said that sales of locally assembled cars increased 12 percent over the same period last year, while that of imported cars plunged 45 percent.

Besides Thailand, Vietnam has this year imported cars from China, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary and Spain.

 
 
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