New Zealand welcomes new border verification system with China

Doing business between China and New Zealand would become easier under new bilateral border initiatives, New Zealand Customs Minister Nicky Wagner said Tuesday.

The two Customs agencies had agreed to launch a new joint electronic verification (JEV) system to streamline and accelerate customs clearance procedures, Wagner said in a statement.

"Currently exporters and brokers are required to provide a certificate of origin to prove that their goods are of New Zealand origin and to gain tariff preference," said Wagner.

Under the new JEV sytem, exporters would need to enter a unique certificate of origin reference number on their electronic export documents, which would then be matched to the electronic data shared between the two agencies.

"Moving to an electronic verification system will make goods trade between our countries even easier, while significantly reducing the risk of New Zealand goods being held up at the Chinese border because of minor technical issues," said Wagner.

"New Zealand will be the first country to have a joint electronic verification system with China, which will be launched later this year," she said.

"China is our largest goods trading partner, with two-way trade more than doubling since the New Zealand-China FTA (free trade agreement) came into force."