3 February 2006
Chamber Welcomes New CER Rules Of Origin
The Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce welcomes the progress that has been made to update the rules which determine
country of origin under the CER Agreement between Australia and New Zealand.
“The previous rules, based on 50% regional value content were acting as a disincentive to efficiency gains being made by
New Zealand companies” said Charles Finny Chamber CEO. “The new rules, based largely on change in tariff classification
are a huge improvement. New Zealand businesses have been encouraging this change in rules for many years.
We know that successive New Zealand Governments have been seeking this change on behalf of New Zealand exporters for at
least 10 years.
Australia has been reluctant to move because it was seeking to protect Australian industry. The fact that agreement has
now been reached to make the change is a major achievement. I congratulate the Government and Officials from MFAT and
MED who have worked so hard for so many years to improve these rules”, he continued.
“The only negative appears to be in the area of Men’s and Boys’ apparel where it seems the old rules will apply until
2010, before being liberalised slightly. Clearly Australian protectionist instincts are still strong in this area, where
a number of companies in the Wellington area are active and strong.
We hope that the Government will work hard to bring the rules applying to this important sector into line with the rest
of our export sectors”, Charles Finny concluded.
ENDS