peace from Parihaka celebrating the people, village and history.
peace from Parihaka celebrating the people, village and history. I
call on Government Order of the
Day No. 2. Customs and
on Government Order of the Day No.
I
I call
I call the Hon Meka Whaitiri. I move that the Customs and Excise Bill
be read a third time. In
2013 a review was undertaken to address concerns
about the
was undertaken to address concerns
customs and excise act 1996. Indeed, customs and excise act 1996. Indeed,
some parts of the act are over
20 years old and other parts over
50 and 100 years
old. The amendments have been required so that
the act could keep pace with the changes in
trade, travel, security and
technology. However,
technology. However, these amendments created a complex piece
of legislation that is difficult
to use. The act is out of step with
modern business practices and if it
was not replaced with the new
bill, would require frequent
future amendments to respond efficiently to
amendments to respond efficiently to
changes in technology and
business practices. After extensive
consultation with stakeholders,
including businesses and industry
organisations that use
and are regulated by the current
legislation, the
legislation, the customs and exercise bill was
developed and exercise bill was developed and
introduced to parliament in
exercise bill was developed and
custom and excise bill was developed and introduced to parliament in
2016. The bill was referred
to the foreign affairs and trade committee
which considered
foreign affairs and trade committee on the draft
bill before reporting back to the House with
recommendations in May 2017. I would
like to thank the
select committee for its consideration
of the bill and for it
valuable recommendations. I would also like to recognise
and thank all those stakeholders who
have contributed to the bill. Many
businesses and industry
organisations made submissions on the bill and worked closely with the
NZ Customs Service to help produce
a bill that will
facilitate international trade
international trade and make business easier. This
new transparent and easy to use
transparent and easy to use
legislation will enable to NZ
Customs Service to more effectively
manage the movement of people
and goods into and out of New Zealand.
It will provide the tools
kneed to protect New Zealand from people,
or goods, that may cause harm,
balance the protection of the nation with
individuals rights, enable
customs to quickly adopt future changes in
technology and business practice and
support economic growth while making
it easier for
traders to do business. The bill also
facilitates greater information sharing between
greater information sharing between
customs and other
Government agencies. The
agencies. The disclosure of information on people and goods
crossing the border for national
security, law enforcement and public
health and safety purposes. I would
like to stress that this increased
availability of information
is balanced by specific protections
and balanced by specific protections and
the standardisation of the process
for information disclosure. The
protections applying
protections applying to the disclosure of information are
strengthened by limiting the
grounds for disclosure of
sensitive passages of information and requiring
disclosure agreements to be made by
ministers, not chief executives and
to be published. Customs use of
biometric information and
its storage for as long
as the purpose for which it was collected exists is
for which it was collected exists is
made very clear in the bill. This
is a confirmation of the existing
legislative position. The bill
also allows biometric identity checks to
be requested when
a traveller's identity is in question. I would
identity is in question. I would
like to thank the
Privacy Commissioner, who had a
significant contribution to make to the
development of the bill,
and who gave advice to the
select committee gave advice to the select committee
to ensure a bill
that balances protection of New Zealand with the
protection of personal privacy. The
major change, however, that this
bill makes is to modernise the
language and structure
of the Customs and Excise Act to
make it easier to understand and interpret
by all who use it. Some
of the major
in the bill are importers who bring goods into New Zealand where it is
not possible to know the final
value of goods at the date of import
will have the flexibility to declare
a provisional value for imported goods
and then provide customs with the
final value once it is known. The
bill gives customs the ability to
issue binding rulings on the
valuation of imported goods. Valuing
goods for the purpose of import can
be complex and this provision will
provide importers
provide importers with more certainty over how much duty
they will owe in certain
circumstances. The bill also
provides greater clarity about the excise system
which will assist business
and protect Crown revenue. Businesses
will have flexibility about where
will have flexibility about where
they store their business
records as the bill allows these records to be
stored in the cloud and offshore
reflecting today's modern business
practices. A new customs
process for appeals over duty
assessments will be simpler and cheaper for
those wanting a less formal way to resolve
disputes
disputes over customs decisions about how much duty is owed. There
are not many who do not comply with
the legislation but for those
who don't comply, the bill updates
and extends customs sanctions
so they maintain relativity with sanctions
across the Customs and Excise Act
and with comparable sanctions in
and with comparable sanctions in
other acts. Administrative
penalties will apply to all export entries
to ensure customs
ensure customs has accurate information to give our
trading partners assurance and protect
New Zealand's trading reputation. An
infringement notice scheme for
minor offending will replace
petty offences,
offences, increasing fairness and transparency. The details of
this squeal will be set
by regulation. The bill confirms the majority
of customs' existing powers,
the bill continues to recognise
that a balance is needed between protecting
privacy and ensuring that
customs can continue to
protect our border. Customs officers will be able
to undertake controlled deliveries
undertake controlled deliveries
across a wider range of goods to
across
across a wider range of goods to investigate smuggling. Public
concerns about customs powers
to examine and access
electronic devices have been addressed through
on officers having a reasonable suspicion or belief of offending.
suspicion or belief of offending. Travellers crossing the border
will be obliged to make all goods in
their possession available for
examination, including providing
access to their electronic devices
when officers suspect or
believe offending has occurred. These
provide the scope and
the opportunity to protect
against smuggling and manage
national security risk. The bill
manages the protection of
protection of New Zealand with individual rights. It
provides individual rights. It provides
modern and accessible legislation
that makes individuals and business'
o
that makes individuals and business'
I commend this bill to the House. I call Simon O'Connor. I am
very pleased to take a call on the third
reading of the Customs and Excise
Bill. I chair the foreign
affairs select committee so customs
fits under that but in recent days
have also taken over the