Proposed Changes to NZ Customs and MPI Charges

To ensure your voice is heard, we’ve outlined the key proposals and encourage you to share your insights with us by the 15th October, before the official public submission deadline on the 31st October.

Are you an exporter or importer in New Zealand? If so, you might be impacted by the proposed changes to the fees charged by the New Zealand Customs Service (Customs) and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) for goods management activities at the border. These changes will affect businesses like yours, either directly or through third-party partners. As your advocates at Business Canterbury, we are eager to hear your thoughts on how these changes could affect your operations, costs, and overall bottom line.

What’s Being Proposed?

The consultation involves significant updates to the fee structure, including:

• Moving from per document to per consignment charging for low-value goods (under $1000).
• Differential charges for high-value consignments by air and sea (over $1000).
• Discontinuation of one export-related fee.
• Introduction of a commercial vessel charge to recover management costs.
• Bringing transshipped goods and empty containers within the scope of the charging regime.
• Full cost recovery for clearing low-value air cargo and international mail.

This proposal aims to make goods fees and levies more financially sustainable and fair. These changes could impact your rates, potentially increasing some fees while reducing others. For example, per consignment charges might replace per document charges for low-value goods.

For a more detailed look at the proposals, you can access the full consultation document here.

Why Your Input Matters

Goods fees and levies help fund the border services that protect New Zealand against harmful items and pests. However, changing these charges could directly impact your business by altering shipping costs, pricing, and logistics processes. That’s why we want to engage with you.

As a trusted partner for Canterbury businesses, we are collecting feedback from the export and import community to present a consolidated response that reflects the concerns and needs of our members.

How You Can Contribute

Please share your feedback by 15th October, so we can include your perspective in our submission. You can reach us at danielt@cecc.org.nz to share your insights or arrange a call.

To ensure your opinions are fully represented, ExportNZ has prepared a set of short questions for you.

Your input is important in making sure any changes to Customs and MPI fees are fair and workable for your business.