Garment companies allowed to make foreign army uniforms Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has given permission to garment companies to make uniforms for foreign armed forces.   The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has asked the Ministry of National Defence and Ministry of Public Security to give opinions on its draft regulations on allowing Vietnamese garment companies to make foreign uniforms. The enterprises which want to make foreign uniforms under contracts to be signed with foreign partners will have to ask for permission and report the contracts to state management agencies. MOIT, after receiving applications from enterprises, will have to consult with the ministries of National Defence and Public Security before granting licenses to enterprises. The General Department of Customs (GDC) will allow enterprises to import sample products after enterprises show the licenses, while it will keep a close watch over the enterprises’ outsourcing process until the products are exported. Dang Phuong Dung, deputy chair and secretary general of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vinatas), said many big opportunities were missed in the past because of complicated procedures. She said foreign partners contacted Vietnamese companies for orders worth billions of dollars, but Vietnamese garment companies refused the orders, not because they could not fulfill the contracts, but because of current regulations. A senior executive from Hoa Binh Garment JSC said in 2014 the company took an order to make Australian police uniforms with a Tasmania Police label. Under a contract signed between the two sides, the foreign partner will send sample products to Hoa Binh Company and provide all materials needed. However, the sample products the partner sent could not get customs clearance at the Tan Son Nhat Airport, because the airport’s customs agency said these were products subject to the import/export ban as stipulated in the Ministry of National Defence’s Decision No 80 released in 2006. Hoa Binh’s executives said they had to move heaven and earth, contacting many different state management agencies to get sample products cleared. However, the foreign partner could not wait. Though Hoa Binh finally received the sample products, the order was canceled and placed with other countries. Dung said it was necessary to prohibit the import/export of Vietnamese military uniforms and equipment for security reasons, but it would be better not to prohibit Vietnamese companies from making the products under outsourcing contracts with foreign partners. Vietnam is now the fourth largest textile exporter in the world with 12.18 billion USD earned from these products in the first six months of this year, according to the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex). Dat Viet