NZ Customs Release 714

Travellers arriving into Wellington, Christchurch or Queenstown airports now have the option to complete a digital arrival declaration instead of a Passenger Arrival Card before travelling to New Zealand.

Travellers arriving into Auckland cannot yet complete a digital declaration and need to complete a paper Passenger Arrival Card which will be handed out on-board your flight to New Zealand.

Customs is currently transitioning to a new credit card payment portal with a new service provider.  While everything is being done to ensure that this happens in a timely manner, we have become aware that the option to pay by credit card may not be available for a number of weeks from 13 July 2023.  

We apologise for any inconvenience and advise that, during this time, customers will be required to pay Customs through internet banking. It is important to follow our internet banking instructions precisely to ensure that payments can be processed correctly, reducing the risk of any delays.

Customs' goods fees are to be increased to reflect inflation on 1 October 2023 and 1 July 2024. A table of the fees to apply from 1 October 2023 is found using the link below. 

These increases are interim, pending a longer, more comprehensive review of Customs' goods fees. These interim fee adjustments will reflect the rate of inflation since the fee levels were last agreed in 2019, maintaining the real value of the fees. 

Customs consulted stakeholders on these increases in March and April 2023 and stakeholders' submissions informed the Government's decisions. 

The recently signed Free Trade Agreement between New Zealand and the European Union has resulted in new Tariff Rate Quotas. The New Zealand Meat Board is welcoming feedback on the proposals for quota allocation mechanisms and cost recovery relative to the EU-NZ FTA. 

Have your say by answering feedback questions or making a written submission before 31 July 2023. 

The Environmental Protection Authority and the Ministry for the Environment are looking for feedback about a proposed infringement offence scheme for hazardous substances. 

The consultation is open until 28 August. 

An infringement scheme would add an intermediate enforcement tool to respond to lower-level hazardous substance offences. 

The Reduced Rate of interest changed on 1 July 2023. It increased from 2.86% to 5.71%. This reflects the 90-day Bill Wholesale Rate on 30 June 2023.

The compensatory interest rate changed on 9 May 2023 and remains at 10.39%.

This use of money interest is charged for two reasons:
- It compensates the Crown for not being able to use the money that is underpaid
- It encourages duty payers to pay the correct amount of duty on time. 

The Reduced Rate applies if the duty payer voluntarily discloses an inadvertent error in an entry that results in underpayment. The Reduced Rate is adjusted annually.

Domestic Transhipment Request (DTR) for sea freight has been implemented from 3 July 2023. A DTR is now required to move uncleared sea-freight from one approved facility (CCA/TF) to another approved facility.
An approved facility is a Customs-controlled Area (CCA) and Transitional Facility (TF).

Further information about these changes, requirements, what you may need to do, and training is available on Customs' website.

Cruise ship onboarding wasn't always easy. Back in the 1970s, these Customs Officers climbed up the side of this ship from their tender to conduct their daily duties. Thankfully we have since adopted better onboarding techniques and health and safety measures!

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