McClay Todd: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill — In Committee 
McClay Todd: ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:655;Page:4689] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 It gives me pleasure to rise and talk on Part 2 which amends the Customs and Excise Act 1996. I think that the Customs Act 1966 was already amended so when I talk particularly about Part 2 it is the 1996 Act that we are looking to amend. 
I think that Stuart Nash the member who has just resumed his seat is right. I think there is consensus in the Chamber because this free-trade agreement is a good thing for New Zealand. I think there is consensus on both sides of the Chamber over the importance of the New Zealand Customs Service its rules and the job it does which is sometimes done in extremely difficult circumstances. 
There are a couple of things that I want to pick up on before I look directly at Part 2. One of them is the role that different bodies within New Zealand play. The Customs Service is there to control the importation of goods collect revenue through tariffs where tariffs are in place and stop the importation of illegal goods. 
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry looks at sanitary and phytosanitary issues to do with goods. The ministry looks particularly at food but also at other types of goods that might be imported into New Zealand and could do some of our industries a lot of harm particularly our agricultural and horticultural industries. 
The amendments to the Customs and Excise Act do not lessen the importance of the work that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry does—which is probably more important when I look at my electorate. Let us keep collecting the revenue. It has certainly stopped the importation into New Zealand of illicit goods and goods that could be used to make drugs. There would be great harm to many many producers in my electorate of Rotorua if we flouted our sanitary and phytosanitary regulations and requirements and disease and pestilence were imported particularly for the kiwifruit industry. 
Part 2 amends the Customs and Excise Act by allowing the chief executive of the New Zealand Customs Service to designate certification bodies that are authorised to issue a New Zealand certificate of origin to goods to be exported to ASEAN countries. This is extremely important because we have a number of barriers to trade. Some of them are direct barriers and some include tariff rates. 
But there are indirect barriers to trade—or non-trade barriers. In cases where 
we do not have appropriate rules as to the origin and certification of our goods and the goods arrive in another country the officials on that side receive paperwork saying: “This good is of New Zealand origin.” and that is not accepted or is not accepted quickly then that becomes a non-trade barrier. 
That means that our exporters our manufacturers and our producers either have to wait longer until their goods are released to their markets or they do not get in there. So that is a barrier to trade. 
The certificate of rules of origin will identify goods and certify that they are of New Zealand origin. This is important when we are exporting a finished good or a food product. We know that the 10 countries in the ASEAN bloc are growing economies. They will become much larger economies in the future. From memory the ASEAN bloc is our third-largest trading group of countries for exports so it is very important to us. 
We know that as the incomes of those countries increase on a per capita basis their desire to consume the many good products produced by our farmers will increase also. Therefore good rules of origin—rules that certify that products leaving New Zealand and going into those countries are from New Zealand—will allow us to sell products to them not only to consume but also to manufacture change and produce further. That is because once this free-trade agreement comes into force our goods can go into one ASEAN country and can then be transformed changed and exported to another and the origin as far as tariff rates are concerned will largely and eventually remain the same. 
Why is this important? Let us look at dairy products for instance. Certainly some dairy products could have much more value added to them in New Zealand but in many cases they do not. A milk powder that is exported to Viet Nam for example could be turned into any number of other products. Without that country having to show that it has substantially altered the product from New Zealand the sub-tariff line is changed automatically so that it can continue to trade with its neighbours. That New Zealand product would be treated as if it was of Vietnamese origin and there would not need to be any other work done around the rules of origin. I think that New Zealand producers will benefit directly and greatly from this. 
I congratulate the Minister and the officials on the work they have done. To my knowledge these are some of the most flexible and liberal rules of origin. Thank you.