London (VNA) – A webinar was held on August 4 to update Vietnamese exporterson the UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark, which is mandatory for most ofindustrial products circulated and used in the UK from next year.

The UKCA wascreated to replace the CE (Conformité Européene - European Conformity) mark of the European Union after the UK left the bloc in 2020.

Though thenew mark already took effect on January 1, 2021, the UK still accepts the CEmark during the transition process so that businesses can have time to adapt tonew requirements. However, the UKCA will be compulsory for most of industrialproducts exported to the country from January 1, 2023.

Addressing theseminar, Vietnam’s Trade Counsellor in the UK Nguyen Canh Cuong said the timelyadaptation to the UKCA marking requirements is highly necessary for Vietnamesefirms to not miss business chances in the major import market of industrialproducts.

Vietnam hasmade up just a small part of the UK’s industrial imports, but thanks to the UK -Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) and changes in global supply chains,opportunities for Vietnamese companies to expand their market share are considerable, he noted.

The UK isone of Vietnam’s leading partners in Europe. Bilateral trade has been growingstrongly in recent years, rising by 10.2% from 2020 to over 6.6 billion USD in2021.

Industrial products,mainly mobile phones and components, computers, machinery, equipment, tools andsteel, accounted for 44.2%, 2.54 billion USD, of Vietnam’ exports to thismarket last year, according to Ta Hoang Linh, Director of the European -American Market Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

He held thatupdating enterprises on the UKCA is greatly crucial for capitalising onadvantages under the UKVFTA and grasping opportunities generated by the thrivingdiplomatic and trade ties, as well as the UK’s high import demand.

At theevent, Emily Beis and Erin Fair, experts from the UK Department for Business,Energy and Industrial Strategy, provided information about the UKCA mark andfielded questions from Vietnamese enterprises.

Erin Fairsaid as Vietnam is a major exporter of the UK, the UK Government attachesimportance to giving instructions to help Vietnamese companies meet the UKCAmarking requirements.

The UK sideis ready to hold virtual and face-to-face workshops in Vietnam to provide moreassistance this November, she added./.