The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement is a multilateral free trade agreement promoted by the ten Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to consolidate existing ASEAN agreements with five of ASEAN’s regional partners, namely Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, Australia, and New Zealand. Following its entry into force for all Member States, the RCEP Agreement has established the world’s largest free trade area in terms of scale, accounting for approximately 30 per cent of the global population and nearly 30 per cent of global GDP.

Although the RCEP Agreement has reduced tariffs for the majority of tariff lines, non-tariff measures (NTMs)—such as technical standards, import licensing requirements, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, among others—are increasingly being applied, and in some cases in more sophisticated forms. While many NTMs serve legitimate objectives, including the protection of public health or the environment, ineffective design and implementation have turned a number of these measures into technical barriers that are complex, lack transparency, and increase compliance costs for enterprises. These barriers may pose challenges to Viet Nam’s exports and adversely affect the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises in the regional market, particularly given that Viet Nam’s small and medium-sized enterprises often lack sufficient information, analytical capacity, and effective feedback mechanisms to respond to NTMs imposed by Member States. This situation has led to difficulties in fully utilising tariff preferences under free trade agreements in general and the RCEP Agreement in particular. Failure to comply with NTM requirements may also cause Viet Nam to miss opportunities to strengthen its position in regional supply chains through the RCEP framework.

This situation underscores an urgent need for Viet Nam to: (i) closely monitor trends in the application of NTMs by Member States; (ii) assess their specific impacts on key export sectors; and (iii) formulate recommendations to support enterprises in overcoming barriers and effectively leveraging the RCEP Agreement. On this basis, the Multilateral Policy Department has undertaken the task entitled “Research on Selected Typical Non-Tariff Measures of RCEP Participating Countries Affecting Viet Nam’s Merchandise Exports”, with a view to clearly identifying specific barriers within the RCEP region that are currently affecting, or are likely to affect, Viet Nam’s exports, thereby supporting enterprises and informing appropriate business and policy planning.

Bulletin No. 4 of the Study is attached here:

Bulletin No. 4 on Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) within the RCEP Framework