NZ Customs Release 728

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us here at New Zealand Customs Service! Best wishes for the New Year.

This will be the last edition for the year and we will recommence on Friday 12 January 2023.

A joint Customs and Wellington police operation has resulted in charges against two people alleged to have imported large quantities of the class C controlled drug ketamine.

Joint investigations in Operation Reheat saw the charges laid after six search warrants were carried out at properties in Wellington and Kapiti.  

This week, the New Zealand Customs Service hosted a delegation of senior officials from the General Administration of Customs China.

This visit was an opportunity to strengthen New Zealand's bilateral relationship with China and progress the ongoing work which follows this year's upgrade to the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA), including signing a new arrangement which supports paperless trade. 

Frontline Customs officers and officials from 18 Pacific nations have been welcomed for a week-long training and visit focussed on illicit drug smuggling, which is being co-hosted by the New Zealand Customs Service and Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO).   
  
New Zealand Customs Director International, Joe Cannon, says "We are pleased to be working with the Oceania Customs Organisation to support the capability development of our Pacific colleagues." 

The annual indexation increase is based on the movement in the All Groups Consumers Price Index (less credit services) over the 12-month period to 30 September 2023.

From Friday 15 December 2023, Customs will be implementing changes to the Deed of Undertaking (DOU) forms currently in use for vehicles, vessels and aircraft that are entered under Part II concession Ref 80( b), (c) and (d).
 
The three new undertaking forms will replace the current DOU calculator form completed by Broker and the DOU statutory declaration form that was prepared by Customs.

Due to the high number of errors detected recently, importers and their agents are reminded that since 1 January 2022 multi-use vaping devices and electronic cigarettes are now specifically classified under 8543.40.00.00E Electronic cigarettes and similar personal electric vaporising devices. 

Use the link below to find classifications for other vaping products. 

From 1 January 2024 changes to the Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Goods) Levy will increase levy rates across all items.

The Climate Change (Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Levies) Amendment Regulations 2023 (Schedule 1 and 2) set out the levy rate changes. Minor updates to item descriptions and tariff codes are included in Schedule 2.

Customs is aware that when submitting import entries, some declarants are declaring origin that is taken solely from what is stated on an invoice, regardless of it being accurate or not. In particular this applies to goods that may have been packaged only, or had minimal inputs in the country that has exported the goods to New Zealand.  

Please be reminded when entering goods at a preferential rate of duty, the claim may be verified by Customs either at the time of entry or at any subsequent time, such as through a post clearance audit. If the claim cannot be verified, the normal rate of duty will apply and when applicable, compensatory interest may be payable.

Please refer to Section 105 of the Customs and Excise Act 2018.

From Thursday 14 December, Customs will be making some changes and limiting access to the Auckland and Wellington Customhouse offices. This is to provide greater security to Customs staff.   This will mean there will no longer be any public access to the buildings.  

For any assistance please contact 0800 428 786 or use the email below. 

Customs is currently transitioning to a new credit card payment portal with a new service provider.  While everything is being done to ensure that this happens in a timely manner, the option to pay by credit card will not be available until 2024. 

We apologise for any inconvenience and advise that, during this time, customers are required to pay Customs through internet banking.  It is important to follow our internet banking instructions precisely to ensure that payments can be processed correctly, reducing the risk of any delays.