Workers at a factory of Hồ Gươm Garment Company. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — As trade activities with the United Kingdom are growing significantly, especially after the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), it is necessary for Vietnamese exporters to update the UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark, a mandatory for exported industrial goods to the UK starting next year.

The UKCA was a replacement for the Conformité Européene - European Conformity (CE) mark of the European Union after the UK left the bloc in 2020.

The Vietnam Trade Office in England on August 4 coordinated with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to organise a webinar to update information on the UKCA mark that already took effect earlier this year.

The UK still accepts the CE mark during the transition process so that businesses can have time to adapt to new requirements.

However, the UKCA will be compulsory for most industrial products circulated and used in the country from January 1, 2023.

Opening the event, Nguyễn Cảnh Cường, Việt Nam's Trade Counsellor in the UK, said that adopting the UKCA would help Vietnamese businesses utilise all opportunities in one of the biggest import markets for industrial products.

"Even though Việt Nam just makes up a small part of the exported industrial products to the UK, advantages from the UKVFTA and changes in global supply chains will create chances for Vietnamese companies to expand market shares in the future," Cường said.

In 2021, industrial products accounted for 44.2 per cent, or US$2.54 billion, of the country's total exports.

In the industrial products' structure, most items are mobile phones and components, computers, machinery, equipment, tools, and steel.

Meanwhile, Tạ Hoàng Linh, director of the European - American Market Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), stressed that guiding the country's firms to fulfil the new requirements would support them to size opportunities generated by the thriving diplomatic and trade ties and high import demand amid global supply shortages.

Erin Fair, an expert from the BEIS, emphasised that as Việt Nam was a major exporter of the UK, the UK Government placed a high priority on helping Vietnamese businesses to meet UKCA mark standards.

The UK would be ready to hold virtual and face-to-face workshops in Hà Nội, Hồ Chí Minh City and other cities in November to instruct Vietnamese enterprises, she added. VNS