INFORMATION REGARDING CULTURAL LICENSE REQUIREMENTS AND

UNCLAS HANOI 002431 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND EB/TPP/BTA/ANA STATE PASS USTR DAVID BISBEE USDOC FOR 4431/MAC/AP/OPB/VLC/HPPHO TREASURY FOR OASIA SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD WTRO VM SUBJECT: INFORMATION REGARDING CULTURAL LICENSE REQUIREMENTS AND FEES SENSITIVE - DO NOT POST ON INTERNET ¶1. (SBU) U.S. industry is concerned about the license and fee requirement that the Ministry of Culture and Information (MOCI) is imposing on each shipment of "cultural" goods, including software, and has asked USTR to intervene. After receiving information from USTR about these problems, Econoff met on August 23 with Mr. Nguyen Van Nhan, Deputy Director, International Cooperation Department, Mr. Le Ngoc Dinh, Officer, International Cooperation Department and Mr. Nguyen, Officer, Cultural Product Export Import Management Department. The MOCI officials promised to give us a copy of a circular, issued under the Prime Minister's decree 12, which implements the license requirement. ¶2. (SBU) The MOCI officials confirmed that the license and fee (0.2 percent of the price of commercial products) apply only to imports, not to domestic products. They argued that the license and fee requirement was justified because, even if products are already approved by the censors, MOCI needs to inspect each shipment in case some other products are slipped into the shipment. However, they admitted that they do not, in fact, examine each shipment although they do charge the fee. In general, these officials seemed ill informed about the WTO or Vietnam's commitments. ¶3. (SBU) Although MOCI never provided Post with the promised copies of the relevant circular, Post obtained copies from the Official Gazette and forwarded them to USTR and the desk on September 12. Post understands that USTR raised this issue directly with the Vietnamese trade officials during the September 12-13 meetings in Washington. ALOISI