Vietnamese goods face tougher hurdles in France despite EVFTA tariff benefits

Speaking at the ‘Effectively Accessing the French and EU Markets’ business meeting held in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, Tran Phu Lu, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC), said France applies a ‘zero tolerance’ policy toward pesticide residues.

Meanwhile, the EU has introduced the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, requiring 100 percent of packaging to be recyclable by 2030, he told the event, co-organized by ITPC, the association of Vietnamese businesses in France (ABVietFrance), the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam, and law consulting company CEVEN LAW.

For coffee, rubber and wood products, the EU Deforestation Regulation requires businesses to ensure transparency throughout their supply chains.

Apart from technical requirements, rising ocean freight rates to Europe are directly affecting the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods.

“Given these requirements, firms need to proactively obtain food safety certifications such as HACCP and ISO 22000, strictly control chemical residues, invest in deeper processing, and use eco-friendly packaging,” Lu said.

In logistics, businesses are advised to book shipping capacity early, sign long-term transportation contracts, diversify shipping routes, and coordinate consolidated shipments to optimize costs.

After six years of implementing the EVFTA, two-way trade between Vietnam and the EU increased from US$49.8 billion in 2019 to nearly $74 billion by the end of 2025.

Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of $38.6 billion.

Notably, Vietnam’s exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products reached $50.7 billion in 2025 and are expected to exceed $74 billion in 2026.

Export contracts must account for legal risks

Beyond technical standards, local exporters are also warned about legal risks when dealing with partners in the EU.

Lawyer Chu Lan Phuong from CEVEN LAW said the EVFTA has created favorable conditions by eliminating tariffs on 99 percent of tariff lines over the first one to five years.

However, businesses still face challenges arising from technical regulations and trade disputes if they fail to prepare comprehensively.

She noted that some domestic companies have granted new partners exclusive distribution rights across the EU without adequately assessing their actual capabilities.

“Commercial contracts for the 2026-27 period need to change in substance,” she said.

“They should no longer merely serve as revenue-sharing documents, but become instruments for allocating legal responsibilities.

“Partners should now also be bound by responsibilities relating to data and artificial intelligence, compliance audit rights and indemnity insurance.”

To mitigate risks, she suggested that businesses tie exclusive rights to specific performance indicators and minimum order quantities.

Meanwhile, Le Hoang An, founder of Anvan Dried Food Company, said Vietnam’s agricultural sector needs to shift from exporting raw materials to deeper processing in order to increase economic value.

Since 2019, the company has applied controlled instantaneous pressure-reduction technology in producing spices, coffee and dried fruit.

The technology helps reduce microbial loads and tightly control the drying process, ensuring that natural products achieve a high degree of stability while meeting international technical standards from the design stage.

“Technology does not replace natural values, but it preserves and elevates those core values,” An said.

“This provides a foundation for combining local resources with advanced technical standards to create Vietnamese products capable of competing in global markets.”