UK-New Zealand Trade Agreement

• Official name: The UK-New Zealand Trade Agreement
• Parties/territories: UK and New Zealand
• Date of entry into force: 31 May 2023

The agreement is an important UK post-Brexit trade agreement and one of New Zealand’s most ambitious free trade agreements with any country, other than Australia. New Zealand also has a bilateral agreement with China.  

In general terms, under the UK-New Zealand FTA, only goods manufactured in the UK of material of either UK or New Zealand origin will qualify for 0% duty and vice versa. All other goods would enter NZ on the MFN rate which can be between 0 –10% for fashion and textiles.  

This document sets out the key benefits for UK exporters to New Zealand of goods 100% made in the UK for export to New Zealand as well as providing guidance on goods made in the UK that use inputs that are not from the UK or New Zealand. 

The UK has also signed a similar, but not identical, agreement with Australia and has concluded negotiations to enter the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) of which New Zealand and Australia are also members. Members are advised to read UKFT’s separate briefing documents on CPTPP which has different rules on origin. In general, the UK-NZ agreement Rules of Origin (ROO) and Product Specific Rules (PSRs) will be more generous to UK companies manufacturing goods in the UK with EU inputs than CPTPP.  

The guide outlines:

• Rules of Origin (ROO) and Product Specific Rules (PSR) of the UK-New Zealand agreement
• Statements of Origin
• VAT required on import/export at the border
• Labelling requirements for goods in target country
• Intellectual property issues
• Differences between UK-NZ and UK AUS FTA
• What a declaration of origin (which is the basis for a claim for preferential tariff treatment) should include