The European Union Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) took effect on August 1 paving the way for increased trade between the EU and Vietnam.

The EVFTA is an ambitious pact providing almost 99 percent of the elimination of custom duties between the EU and Vietnam. As per the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the FTA is expected to help increase Vietnam’s GDP by 4.6 percent and its exports to the EU by 42.7 percent by 2025. While the European Commission has forecast the EU’s GDP to increase by US$29.5 billion by 2035.

65% of the duties on EU exports to Vietnam has been eliminated upon entry into force of the Agreement, the remainder will be phased out over a period of ten years. EU duties on imports from Vietnam will be phased out over a period of seven years.

• Practically all the machines and appliances are free of tariffs from the moment the Agreement enters into force, and the rest will be after five years. The current fees are up to 35%.
• Auto parts will be duty free after seven years (current duty is up to 32%).
• Approximately half of EU pharmaceutical exports are duty free as entry into force of the Agreement, and the remainder will be duty free after seven years (current duties are up to 8%).
• Duties applied to all exports of textile products has been eliminated as entry into force of the Agreement.
• About 70% of EU chemical exports are duty free at the time the Agreement entered into force and the rest will be after three, five or seven years, as appropriate (current fees are up to 25%).
• Wines and spirits will be fully duty free after seven years (currently the duties are 50% and 48%, respectively)
• Frozen pork will be duty free after seven years, bovine meat will be duty free after three years, dairy products will be duty free after a maximum of five years and food preparations will be duty free after one year. maximum of seven years.

REDUCE NON-TARIFF BARRIERS TO EUROPEAN EXPORTS

The EU and Vietnam have agreed to strengthen the disciplines of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).

The agreement also contains a chapter that addresses Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), specifically aimed at facilitating trade in plant and animal products, where the parties agreed on some important principles such as regionalization and the recognition of the EU as a single entity.

These provisions will facilitate access to the Vietnamese market for EU companies that produce a wide variety of products, including household appliances, information technology, and food and drink.

PROTECTION THROUGH TARIFF QUOTAS

Only some sensitive agricultural products will not be fully liberalized, the EU has limited Vietnamese exports through tariff quotas (TRQs): Rice, Sweet corn, Garlic, Mushrooms, Sugar and products with high sugar content, Cassava starch, Surimi, Tuna canned.

A distinct aspect of EVFTA is its strong focus on sustainable trade and a shared vision of labor, corporate social responsibility, and environmental conservation. These values have far-reaching potential to improve the competitiveness of European businesses and their brands.

Project Outline

La Liga is the Spanish professional football league, which is among the most prestigious football leagues in the world as the Premier League or Bundesliga.

We have been working with La Liga and their Country Manager since several years by supporting them with working permits for their staff in Indonesia. Recently, we have started to provide them legal support as they are preparing to run a Youth Football League in Indonesia.

Testimonial

“From La Liga in Indonesia, we have worked and collaborated on various official projects and procedures with Double M. The result has always been the same: professionalism, speed and excellent execution. At Double M they are always available and ready to help without obligation. It is convenient to have close partners with such extensive knowledge of the local market”.

Rodrigo Gallego Abad – Indonesia Delegate     

Project Outline

NES Global Talent is the largest provider of workforce in oil & gas sector, with more than 60 offices in the 5 continents

NES Global Talent is a British Company, specialized in HR Consultancy and outsourcing for the Oil and Gas Industry. They are the world leader on their Industry, having offices in 33 countries. 

In Indonesia, Double M provides them with payroll services, HR consultation and Tax support (specially in Income tax, foreign income, BPJS, etc). 

Testimonial

“When I joined NES Global Talent in Indonesia we were already working with a regional vendor to advise on local payroll and tax matters. We were however in search of a more efficient payroll process, without compromising on compliance. Subsequently, we changed to DoubleM who introduced us to a completely new process which is much more sophisticated. In addition, DoubleM supports us on the rare occasions that there is a client query related to payroll or labor law, by allowing their specialists to join the meetings with our consultants.”

Henrique Castro – Indonesia Country Manager

Project Outline

Coren Group is the largest livestock integrator and food processor in Spain. Spain has been the first country in the EU and the fourth in the world to be approved by Indonesian authorities for the export of beef. This is the result of Double M’s work with their network and political contacts.

Novafrigsa and Artesanos Gallegos as well as the Slaughterhouse Artesanos Gallegos de la Carne have obtained halal certification by the halal official entity in Indonesia, as well as their slaughterhouses have been approved to export to Indonesia.

After these approvals, Double M has been leading the sales initiatives in Indonesia since 2016 for both slaughterhouses. The results are 3000 tons of meat sales for 2019, and 5000 tons are expected in 2020.

With the success in the sales aspect, Grupo Coren decided to establish a subsidiary in Indonesia in partnership with Double M. Coren group has trusted Double M to manage the subsidiary, handling all administration (accounting, tax, HR, legal, etc), sales, and operations. Currently, the company is running successfully and is one of the ten biggest meat importers and distributors in Indonesia.

Testimonial

“Our experience with Double M has been unbeatable, both for its professionalism and for its human quality. Their knowledge of the Indonesian market is not reduced to a mere description of statistical data but, has shown that they are perfectly integrated into Indonesian culture knowing in detail their way of thinking and doing business. The dedication they have shown to understand some complex businesses in which they did not have much experience initially has made them specialists in our sector, with good contacts both in the administration of the country and with the other local operators. In summary, for a Spanish company it is lucky to be able to count on Double M, a trustworthy consulting firm specialized in a country as different from ours as Indonesia “

Dino Grobas – President Director of Novafrifgsa S.A.

Project Outline

Keralty health is a company which belongs to Sanitas Group, a healthcare and insurance conglomerate with Headquarters in Colombia. They are a Worldwide leader in the healthcare and insurance companies.  

In this case, Double M has assisted Keralty by stablishing their representative office in Indonesia (KP3A), and the we have run all their local administrative affairs (Accounting, tax and payrolls). 

Joaquin, the country manager from Sanitas, has the following opinion about how is working with PT DMG Investment Services

Testimonial

“Double M has successfully assisted us during the process of establishing the Representative Office of Keralty in Indonesia as well as other kinds of services such as tax compliance, payroll calculation and accounting reporting, so it’s being a valuable resource for our project.”  

Joaquin Colunga – Country Manager Indonesia

Project Outline

IVACE is a Public owned company which belongs to the Government of Valencia. This entity supports the companies of the region of Valencia to Export around the world.

Testimonial

“We have been their official consultant (Antena as they call us) for Indonesia since 2016, and we have won their tender (can only work with them through tenders) three times in a row for Indonesia. From late 2019 we are also their official consultants / partners in Vietnam. 

With this client we mainly provide commercial services, such as meeting arrangements, search of potential clients and partners, arrange trade missions for them every year, inverse trade missions, seminars online and presential, etc.  We have worked with around 100 companies from the Valencia region since 2016 for Vietnam and Indonesia.”

Begoña Sanchez  – internationalization Technician

Project Outline

EXTENDA is a Public owned company which belongs to the Government of ANDALUCIA, in Spain. This entity supports the companies of the region of Andalucía to Export around the world. 

Testimonial

“We started to work with Double M to open up a market in the export of our product in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, etc. The commercial relationship could not have been better: they prepared the agendas and trips to the countries, accompanied us on the visits, followed up on them… and managed to make the clients. The treatment on a day-to-day basis and all the procedures with our clients could not be done in a more fluid and optimized way, making each of our contacts a success”.

Borja Fernandez  – Plant Manager

Project Outline

DEFESA is a waste management collector from Spain which focus on the collection of Old Corrugates Carton in Spain, which is then exported to the Biggest paper mills, which are mainly located in Asia.

Double M are current the agents f in Vietnam and other markets in the ASEAN region. Before starting to work with Double M, DEFESA was exporting their products only through big traders, but now they have been able to sell directly to several factories in Vietnam and other markets in Asia (Indonesia and Malaysia).  

Below a quote of Borja Fernandez about his experience with Double M

Testimonial

“We started to work with Double M to open up a market in the export of our product in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, etc. The commercial relationship could not have been better: they prepared the agendas and trips to the countries, accompanied us on the visits, followed up on them… and managed to make the clients. The treatment on a day-to-day basis and all the procedures with our clients could not be done in a more fluid and optimized way, making each of our contacts a success”.

Borja Fernandez  – Plant Manager

Project Outline

Imabe Iberica S.A. is a manufacturer of machinery for waste management. Their main product is balers for waste such as scrap, OCC, organic waste, etc. 

In Indonesia we started by a search of local partners (database), and afterwards a meeting arrangement. After these services, they requested us to be their agent, which we happily accepted in 2016. Since then we have been able to successfully close a couple of projects, and we expect to get the third by the end of this 2020. 

Below you can find a quote from Mr. Javier Vega, Export Manager of Imabe Iberica S.A.

Testimonial

“Imabe Iberica, as manufacturer of balers and waste management equipment, always faces challenges to find our potential customers in developing countries. Scrappers and OCC (Old Corrugated Carton) collectors normally don’t have webpages and are very difficult to find. Thanks to the outstanding work of Double M, we were able to get in touch with the main OCC collectors as well as the big scrappers of Indonesia. 

After this work, we knew we could trust in Double M, so we appointed them to be our agents in the country. After the years, they have been able to open the market for us closing the firsts sales, as well as keeping us updated of all relevant projects. We are very satisfied with their work and we recommend them to any company who wants to start to sell or commercialize their products in Indonesia.”

Javier Vega – International Manager

Project Outline

They are the first client that trusted in Double M agency services to develop their business in Indonesia and South East Asia.

Prior to working with Double M, Wisco did not have any clients in ASEAN countries. After 5 years working with Double M in ASEAN, these are the results:

• Market leader in Indonesia and Philippines, with a market share of approximately 50% in both countries.
• Wisco Group also has regular clients in Singapore & Vietnam and has become a trusted partner of the biggest bronze stockist in the region.

Testimonial

“Double M helps us to get close with the client and give us speed in the response. They also provide trust and seriousness with proven results, which have lasted over the years.”  

Zigor Peinador – The Export Manager