Reti Shane: Trade (Safeguard Measures) Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeReti Shane: Trade (Safeguard Measures) Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 04 November 2014. Volume:701;Page:538. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei):Tenā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. I am standing in support of the Trade (Safeguards Measures) Bill the purpose of which is twofold: to protect New Zealand businesses and to ensure our compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO). I would like to acknowledge the many Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee members who have got the bill to this stage. I do accept that there has been some time frame. We are a look-forward Government but I take your point. There are several trade remedies that we can bring to foreign imports that may cause harm to New Zealand businesses. We have legislation already for countervailing measures and we have legislation for anti-dumping. This is another tool in the tool kit. This is a tool that talks about safeguard measures. The bill quite clearly talks about how a safeguard measure comes to be. There is a safeguard application. There is a safeguard investigation. During that investigation in fact you may have a provisional safeguard duty apply while it is being investigated. Then a determination is made.I think there are many things to like in this bill and I want to talk about four of them. The first is that I think this bill is business supportive. I say so for several reasons. First of all anyone can make an application. Secondly the criterion for determination is well spelt out. It is very clear. And thirdly if an eventual determination a safeguard duty is made and that determination is higher than the provisional duty that was allocated during the investigation then the applicant gets a refund. If it is lower then there is nothing more to pay and I think that is a good indication of business support. The second point is that it is administratively real. What I mean by that is this legislation pushes out the investigation period to 75 days; it was 30 days. The purpose for that is you get a more diligent and a more thorough investigation when you give it more time. This is likely to decrease the risk that we have of facing disputes resolution at the World Trade Organization which would likely be expensive and time-consuming. So it is administratively real.I think the third thing that it does is it capacity builds the Public Service. By that I mean the safeguard investigations will now be undertaken by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment where previously they were undertaken by the temporary safeguard authorities. While we are talking of the temporary safeguard authorities I would like to acknowledge the two people who have worked with that Messrs Plimmer and Gilbert. They have been the temporary safeguard authorities and they have done good work. This bill brings that capacity building that investigation inside the ministry which is efficient as well and that is what we want to do with public services. The fourth and last point I want to make is that it makes us World Trade Organization - compliant. As already mentioned by my colleague over here it is no coincidence that last week Minister Groser progressed the accession to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement which gives us access to $1.7 trillion of Government contracts around the world. It is no small feat at all. I think really that this bill further supports New Zealand’s compliance with World Trade Organization regulations which in turn supports the Government’s Business Growth Agenda so I stand to support this bill. Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker.