The Ministry of Industry (MoI) has finalized a draft decree to replace Decree No. 76/2001/ND-CP on production and trading of tobacco products, in an attempt to put tobacco industry in line with Vietnam’s WTO commitments.
The draft stipulates that the State will hold a major stake in tobacco-producing firms, while foreign investors can join local enterprises which already have a tobacco production license. Such investment must be approved by the Prime Minister.
The draft decree also requires an enterprise that wants to produce cigarettes under new foreign brands for sale on the domestic market to obtain the Prime Minister’s permission.
The draft paper underlines that tobacco production must be suitable to the tobacco sector planning and strategy and no new investment can be poured into existing enterprises if the total tobacco production capacity as set by the MoI is already fully utilized.-