Customs and the Ministry for Primary Industries have launched public consultation over proposed changes to fees charged to clear goods at the border.

“Customs and the Ministry for Primary Industries officers both play a critical role protecting our country against illegal and harmful items. Our systems for clearing goods are aimed at making trade easy and efficient but are also targeted at preventing harm to New Zealand. This includes intercepting prohibited weapons and illegal drugs, as well as biosecurity risks, such as pests or harmful diseases,” Customs Deputy Chief Executive Policy, Legal and Strategy, Richard Bargh says.

Border agencies largely recover the costs of goods management services through charging fees and levies to users of these services, such as importers, exporters, and freight companies.

A review has found that changes to fees are needed to ensure that Customs and MPI can continue to deliver efficient, easy to use services while having sufficient resources to target risks to New Zealand.

“Border agencies are constantly looking for ways to provide high-quality border management services and goods clearance as cost-effectively as possible. We have adopted technologies that allow us to be quicker and more mobile, along with developing digital tools which customers can use themselves,” says Mr Bargh.

“We also provide other efficiencies for trusted businesses with systems such as our Secure Exports Scheme (SES) and Trade Single Window (TSW) which enables smarter, quicker border processing by providing a single channel for the exchange of information between Customs and importers, exporters and their agents.

“We understand that fee changes can have an impact on businesses, and we want to fully test the impact of these proposals through consultation,” Mr Bargh says.

Customs and MPI will be testing the proposals through targeted discussions with impacted businesses during the consultation period, which ends on 31 October 2024.

The consultation document “Recovering the Costs of Goods Management Activities at the Border” is available on Customs’ website: Consultation: Recovering the costs of goods management activities at the border - New Zealand Customs Service

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