Jones Shane: New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Jones Shane: New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 15 May 2008. Volume:647;Page:16019. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon SHANE JONES (Associate Minister of Trade) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister of Trade 
: I move  
That the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee with an instruction to the committee that it present its report to the House on or before 30 June 2008 notwithstanding Standing Order 291(1). I also intend to move that the committee has the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day in which there has been a sitting of the House on Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington region on a day on which the House is sitting despite Standing Orders 192 194(a) and 195(1)(b) and (c).  
The Free Trade Agreement between the Government of New Zealand and the Government of the People’s Republic of China has been negotiated with the overriding objective of opening up economic opportunities for New Zealand business in China. China is New Zealand’s fourth-largest export market for goods with current exports to China totalling $2 billion. It is also a growing market for New Zealand’s services exports. The agreement represents New Zealand’s largest bilateral trade agreement since the Closer Economic Relations—or CER—with Australia in 1983.  
The agreement is China’s first free-trade agreement with an OECD member. Being first assists New Zealand exporters through the removal of tariffs thereby giving them an initial competitive advantage over other exporters. It has also helped by raising the commercial profile of New Zealand companies in China. The agreement will liberalise and facilitate the trade in goods between China and New Zealand.  
Tariffs on 96 percent of New Zealand’s current exports to China will be eliminated by 2019. This equates to an annual duty saving of $115.5 million based on current trade. Tariffs on over $200 million worth of current exports will be eliminated on the coming into force of the agreement and two-thirds of all of New Zealand’s goods will be tariff-free within 5 years.  
The agreement encourages cooperation between relevant officials regulators and technical experts to remove non-tariff barriers to trade. This will also make New Zealand’s exports more competitive in the Chinese market. The agreement sets up a framework for both countries to work towards accepting each other’s technical regulations as being equivalent and includes a mutual recognition agreement on electrical and electronic equipment that will make it easier for New Zealand exporters of these goods to have their products accepted in advance of arrival as meeting Chinese standards. It will also make it easier for New Zealand regulators to monitor and enforce the electrical safety and compatibility of imported Chinese products.  
The agreement also retains New Zealand rights under the World Trade Organization (WTO) to take actions against unfairly traded imports from China and contains prohibition against export subsidies. The agreement contains measures relating to customs procedures and cooperation that are designed to reduce barriers to doing business between New Zealand and China. Goods entering China under the agreement are required to be released within 48 hours of arrival and exporters may apply for advance rulings in respect of origin.  
The agreement establishes procedures designed to resolve sanitary and phytosanitary issues when they arise and a framework to avoid such issues arising. In the area of intellectual property the agreement incorporates WTO rights and obligations so that they can be enforced in a bilateral context. China has also agreed to establish and maintain transparent intellectual property right regimes and systems so as to provide greater clarity. 
New Zealand will benefit from China expanding its commitments in services including education and environmental services. New Zealand will also benefit from provisions to facilitate the movement of business people in China.  
In the area of investment New Zealand will benefit from enhanced national treatment and investment protection provisions as well as from a most favoured nation non-discrimination provision to ensure that New Zealand investors remain no worse off than the investors of any other countries. The agreement also provides New Zealand investors with access to binding third-party arbitration procedures if the Chinese Government breaches the investment provisions.  
Legally binding agreements on labour and the environment were concluded in association with the free-trade agreement. These agreements will enhance communication and cooperation on these issues and will help towards meeting the objectives of raising working standards and improving environmental protection.  
The agreement supports New Zealand’s objective of broadening and deepening relations with China and its wider trade policy interests in strengthening economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region. The bill enables the agreement to be brought into force. It does so by amending the Tariff Act 1988 the Customs and Excise Act 1996 the Fair Trading Act 1986 the Electricity Act 1992 and the Radiocommunications Act 1989.  
Amendments to the Tariff Act 1988 will enable the implementation of preferential tariff rates on imported goods of Chinese origin and they will enable transitional safeguard measures to be applied in appropriate circumstances on such imports. Amendments to the Customs and Excise Act 1996 will create a system for issuing certificates of origin for goods exported from New Zealand to China. Amendments to the Fair Trading Act 1986 the Electricity Act 1992 and the Radiocommunications Act 1989 will enable compliance by New Zealand with the conformity cooperation agreement which is an integral part of the agreement.  
The Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee is considering the New Zealand - China free-trade agreement under the international treaty examination process. It will report back on its examination by Friday 6 June. 
To conclude the agreement represents a significant economic and strategic opportunity for New Zealand. It enjoys strong support from the business community as illustrated by the delegation of over 200 business and community leaders that joined the Prime Minister and the Minister of Trade in Beijing to witness the signing of the agreement. The Government would like to see the bill enacted by 24 July so that the agreement can enter into force on 1 October 2008 and so that New Zealanders exporters can benefit from tariff cuts effective from that date. I commend this bill to the House.