te Heuheu Georgina: Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:669;Page:16232] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (Minister for Courts) 
on behalf of the  
Minister of Customs 
: I move  
That the Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. The bill was introduced to Parliament in September 2010 and had its first reading on 15 September 2010. It has been reported back from the Justice and Electoral Committee and I would like to thank the members of the committee for the prompt attention they gave to this bill. This bill is an omnibus bill. It amends the Customs and Excise Act 1996 and the Biosecurity Act 1993. The amendments make important improvements to support the sharing of information across border sector agencies. These amendments will ensure the Customs Service and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry meet the Government’s priorities in relation to the delivery of the joint border management system and support an effective collaboration at the border. It also provides for improvements in the effectiveness of customs law enforcement. The amendments will restore the level of effectiveness to the administrative penalty and petty offence schemes that was intended when the Customs and Excise Act was passed in 1996. Finally the bill addresses emerging customs and border management issues and provides clarity to existing legislative provisions to improve administration of the Customs and Excise Act.  
The bill contains three categories of amendments. Firstly there are amendments to provide for planned information-sharing by the Customs Service with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and across a range of border agencies. Secondly there are amendments to enhance the effectiveness of customs law enforcement mechanisms and thirdly there are nine smaller amendments to clarify provisions within the Customs and Excise Act.  
The identification and management of border risk requires information to be accessed and shared by border agencies. The Government has recently agreed to $75.9 million funding for the first tranche of a new border management system which will provide the Customs Service and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry with access to information needed to identify border risks. The current statutory provision for information sharing allows for information to be shared on a case by case basis. This is not sufficient to cover the quantity of information and the process for information sharing between the Customs Service and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. 
The bill contains amendments to the Customs and Excise Act and the Biosecurity Act that are necessary to support shared access to information by the Customs Service and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry under the new joint border management system. They also provide a legal framework to support interim information-sharing projects between the Customs Service and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry until the joint border management system is established. Further the Customs Service is involved with a number of centres that operate jointly with staff from different agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry the Immigration Service the police the Ministry of Defence and others. These centres provide a mechanism for sharing staff and intelligence to ensure that border risks are identified and effectively managed. The existing statutory provisions relating to such information sharing are unnecessarily complex. Given the Customs Service’s range of agency interrelationships and connections the amendments in the bill establish an information-sharing framework that will enable the Customs Service to manage the access to and the sharing of border information by the relevant agencies more efficiently and more effectively.  
The Justice and Electoral Committee has proposed a series of amendments that clarify the information-sharing provisions in the bill. The committee’s proposal sets out criteria that the Minister of Customs must consider and consult on before recommending the making of regulations under the proposed information-sharing framework. The committee has also recommended that the public is notified of the intention to undertake consultation. These amendments will increase the rigour of the information-sharing regime and provide confidence to business and individuals about the way the information they entrust to the Government is being treated. In addition the committee has proposed an amendment that any regulations made under the framework must be confirmed by Parliament. The Minister in charge of the bill is very happy to accept these amendments in order to provide assurance to members of the public and the trading community.  
In terms of the enforcement and compliance provisions the Customs Service’s assessment of risk relies heavily on the quality and accuracy of the information provided by importers. The administrative penalty scheme that operates under the Customs and Excise Act is no longer providing a sufficient incentive for compliance by the importing community. The existing provisions relating to the petty offences regime are very limited in their scope and reflect the circumstances that applied when the Customs and Excise Act was originally passed.  
The Customs Service has identified amendments to restore the level of effectiveness intended when these schemes commenced. The second set of amendments will strengthen the administrative penalty regime by first increasing the minimum penalties to be applied as administrative penalties; secondly increasing the minimum penalties that can be dealt with as administrative penalties; thirdly adapting the penalty regime to reflect the degree of culpability; and fourthly including in the estimation of revenue avoided the GST that is otherwise payable. The amendments will also extend the range of provisions that can be dealt with as minor offences under the petty offences regime.  
The Justice and Electoral Committee has proposed an amendment that makes it clear that all imports with a value of less than $1000 fall within the administrative penalty regime. Again the Minister in charge of the bill is happy to support this amendment. The bill also includes nine amendments that are required to either clarify existing provisions or address new situations that have emerged since the Act was passed in 1996. They clarify licensing and excise liability requirements for biofuels and biofuel blends and reduce compliance costs for low-volume producers; allow the use of reasonable force within certain customs-controlled areas to detain people or compel unauthorised persons to leave; enable the Customs Service to prevent goods from entering New Zealand that have been designed manufactured or adapted to facilitate a crime of dishonesty—for example card skimmers—create a specific offence for injuring or killing a customs dog; enable goods that must be imported in multiple shipments to be managed as if they were a single shipment; allow for the making of regulations to define the point at which an export entry is deemed to have been made; define when a postal article has been produced or delivered to a customs officer; and provide the specific method for calculating the value of temporarily imported goods at the time of exportation.  
The Justice and Electoral Committee has proposed a number of amendments including the insertion of definitions of “biofuel” and “biofuel blend” in the bill and a clarification of when blending of biofuel for home consumption occurs. The amendments also enhance customs law enforcement which is essential to ensure the Government can prevent the importation of drugs and precursors and prevent other illegal activity at the border and can contribute to the prosperity of the country. Again the Minister in charge of the bill thanks the Justice and Electoral Committee for completing its work on the bill in such a compressed time frame. I commend the Customs and Excise (Joint Border Management Information Sharing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill to the House.