- Hon Casey Costello
Changes to fees and levies for goods crossing New Zealand's border are being introduced to ensure they are fairer and better recover the costs of Customs and Ministry for Primary Industries services, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today.
"Customs and the Ministry for Primary Industries make a critical contribution to New Zealand's economic prosperity and growth, by ensuring trade can flow as efficiently as possible," Ms Costello says.
"At the same time, they need to protect against the risks that border activities present such as biosecurity risks, and organised crime activity, including drug smuggling.
"The changes Cabinet has approved for goods management fees will ensure the work Customs and MPI do in both areas can be recovered more fairly from those who benefit from border processing services or whose activities create the need for those services."
The Minister said there were two parts to the changes with some Customs fees increasing from 1 July this year, and structural changes to the fee regime taking place in April 2026.
"The changes will help Customs to respond to the pressure from transnational, serious and organised crime (TSOC) groups, which is increasing as they target New Zealand, and is reflected in the significant increases in drug seizures over recent years.
"The fee changes will also address inequities in the current regime and will benefit New Zealand retailers and taxpayers.
"For example, at present the border processing costs for low-value goods (goods valued at less than NZ$1000) which are purchased from international online suppliers and shipped by international mail are mostly paid by the taxpayer. That will change."
The cost recovery system for Customs goods fees has been in place for two decades and the last fees review took place in 2019. At the time, it was signalled that some decisions would be revisited in two years' time, supporting a move to full cost recovery, but this 2021 review was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The structural changes announced today will take effect from 1 April 2026. Details of these are available on the Customs website.
From 1 July 2025, there will be adjustments to Customs fees to ensure its goods management charges match the costs of providing them in a sustainable way. The new rates are also available on the Customs website.
There will be no changes to MPI's Biosecurity System Entry Levy (BSEL), which Customs collects on MPI's behalf, until the structural changes are implemented next year.
"The fees changes underwent extensive consultation with industry and the wider public," Ms Costello says.
Customs and MPI will be working with industry stakeholders to ensure that the changes are implemented smoothly.
