| | 
| | | Your help leads to arrest | | | Customs recently alerted industry partners about an increase in the numbers of targeted break-ins at supply chain businesses.
That prompted a large number of tip-offs to Customs and, in one case last week (16 June 2024), information from a Customs-Controlled Area partner about a burglary at their premises in Christchurch helped lead to an arrest and the seizure of a large quantity of illicit tobacco. | | | | | | | | | | 
| | | International cooperation stops 1.6 tonnes of drugs reaching New Zealand | | | To mark International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking yesterday (26 June), Customs acknowledged its overseas border and enforcement partners who have helped stop 1.6 tonnes of drugs from reaching New Zealand shores this year. | | | | | | | | | | 
| | | New excise duty and levy rates for alcohol | | | The annual adjustment to the excise and excise-equivalent duty rates on alcoholic beverages will take effect on 1 July 2024. The annual adjustment is based on movements in the Consumer Price Index over the 12-month period ended 31 March 2024.
Changes to the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Alcohol Levy rates will also take effect on 1 July 2024.
Alcohol products removed from a licensed manufacturing area or imported after midnight on 30 June 2024 will be subject to the new rates. | | | | | | | | | | 
| | | Amendment to the Working Tariff Document of New Zealand | | | The Working Tariff Document of New Zealand (WTD) recently received two rounds of amendments. The first amendment related to the EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, effective 1 May 2024, which was a complete reprint of the WTD. The second amendment related to the changes list below, effective 1 July, which are partial page replacements to the complete reprint from 1 May 2024:
- Tariff (Statistical Requirements) Amendment Notice (No. 1) 2024,
- Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Alcoholic Beverages Indexation) Amendment Order 2024,
- Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Reduction for Specified Tobacco Products) Amendment Order 2024,
- Tariff (Specified Tobacco Products) Amendment Order 2024, and
- Other miscellaneous amendments
Given the nature of some of the changes being made, the physical reprint was postponed until all the changes were finalised. It is expected that the physical copies will be rolled out later in July. | | | | | | | | | 
| | | 50 percent reduction in duty on heated tobacco products | | | From 1 July 2024, the excise and excise-equivalent duty rates on heated tobacco products will reduce by 50 percent. These products heat reconstituted tobacco to high temperatures without combustion. The resulting vapour is inhaled, in a similar way to vaping products.
These products are a relatively small component of New Zealand's total tobacco consumption. Currently, the relevant products on the New Zealand market are all imported.
The Orders in Council effecting this change are available on Customs' website. | | | | | | | | | | 
| | | Celebrate Matariki tomorrow | | | Tomorrow will be a public holiday marking Matariki. As the stars of the Matariki cluster rise in the winter sky, they signal a time of remembrance, reflection, and renewal across Aotearoa. Matariki is a special period that connects us to the land, the sky, and each other.
We would like to wish you all a safe and wonderful Matariki with whanau and friends. | | | | | | | |