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Customs & Duties

Vietnam has become a major manufacturing hub — particularly for clothing and footwear, furniture, electronics, and homeware. For UK importers, the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) reduces or eliminates duty on a wide range of goods that would otherwise attract meaningful tariffs under the UK Global Tariff. Claim the preference correctly and you can cut duty to zero on many lines.

The UK-Vietnam FTA: Background

The UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement applied from 1 January 2021 — a continuity agreement carried over from the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) that entered into force in August 2020. UK import tariffs on Vietnamese goods are phased down in annual stages, and the UK-side schedule is fully eliminated by January 2027 — most lines have already reached their end-stage rates. The longer staging tail, running to 2030, is on Vietnam's side of the agreement and affects UK exporters, not importers.

There's also a second route. The UK acceded to the CPTPP, in force since 15 December 2024, and Vietnam is a CPTPP party — so importers can use whichever of the two agreements gives the better rate and rules of origin for their product. The rules genuinely differ: CPTPP's textile rules follow a yarn-forward approach rather than the UKVFTA's fabric-forward rule, which can change whether a garment qualifies at all. If your goods fail origin under one agreement, check the other before paying full duty.

Key Duty Rates Under the UKVFTA

Clothing and garments. The standard UKGT rate for most garments is 12%. Under the UKVFTA, clothing from Vietnam is subject to a sharply reduced rate — many categories are at or approaching 0% depending on the specific commodity code and the current staging year. Given the volume of clothing imported from Vietnam, this is the biggest single saving in the agreement.

Footwear. Standard UKGT rates for footwear range from 0–16% depending on material and type. Leather-upper footwear attracts 4–8% under the standard tariff; the highest rates, up to 16%, apply to textile-upper footwear. The UKVFTA reduces both — check the current staged rate for your specific commodity code.

Furniture. Most furniture — wooden, metal, and upholstered seating alike — is already 0% under the UKGT regardless of origin, so the FTA delivers no saving there. The honest position: much furniture is duty-free from anywhere, and preference only matters for the few lines that still carry a standard rate.

Electronics and electrical goods. Most consumer electronics are already at 0% under the UKGT. The UKVFTA provides marginal additional benefit for specific sub-categories that carry a standard rate, but for most electronics importers, the UKGT rate and the UKVFTA rate are identical at 0%.

Rules of Origin Requirements

To claim UKVFTA preference, goods must originate in Vietnam according to the agreement's rules of origin. For textiles and clothing, the standard rule requires the fabric to be woven and the garment to be cut and sewn in Vietnam. Goods assembled in Vietnam from fabric imported from China do not qualify as Vietnamese-originating under this rule — a relevant point given Vietnam's heavy use of Chinese fabric.

For footwear, the typical rule requires the upper to be produced in Vietnam. For furniture, sufficient processing must occur in Vietnam — generally, this is met if the furniture is manufactured there from imported raw materials, as furniture manufacturing typically changes the tariff heading of the inputs.

Ask your Vietnamese supplier to confirm that the goods meet the UKVFTA rules of origin — and make sure you get the right proof. An exporter's origin declaration on the commercial invoice is only valid for consignments up to €6,000. Above that — which most commercial shipments will exceed — the standard proof is an EUR.1 movement certificate issued by the Vietnamese authorities. Your freight agent will need the proof of origin to declare the UKVFTA preference code on the import declaration.

A Worked Example

A UK footwear retailer imports £600 of leather ankle boots from a manufacturer in Ho Chi Minh City. The standard UKGT rate for this type of footwear is 8%.

At £52 per £600 shipment, the UKVFTA saving is over 8% of the goods value. The same preferential logic applies to clothing imports: a 12% duty rate reduced to near-0% under the UKVFTA on £10,000 of garments saves £1,200 per shipment — and at that consignment value you'll need an EUR.1 certificate, not just an invoice declaration. See the full guide to UK import duty calculation for how to compute the full landed cost with and without preference applied.

Practical Steps for Claiming UKVFTA Preference

1. Confirm the current UKVFTA rate for your specific commodity code using the UK Trade Tariff — the remaining staged lines keep falling until the UK schedule completes in January 2027.
2. Check whether CPTPP gives a better rate or easier rules of origin for your product — you can claim under either agreement.
3. Ask your Vietnamese supplier to confirm origin compliance and provide the right proof: an origin declaration on the invoice for consignments up to €6,000, an EUR.1 movement certificate above that.
4. Pass the origin documentation to your freight agent and instruct them to declare the preference code on the import entry.
5. Keep the origin documentation on file — HMRC can request it during a compliance check, and you need to be able to demonstrate the preference was legitimately claimed.

See the furniture import guide for how these preferences play out in a specific product category.