New Zealand brings trade safeguards into line with WTO rules

WELLINGTON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand Parliament on Tuesday passed a new trade safeguards law to bring the country into line with World Trade Organisation requirements.

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Paul Goldsmith said the Trade (Safeguard Measures) Bill would promote efficient, transparent and objective investigative and decision-making processes.

"At a time of increasing globalization and competition from imported products, safeguards, usually applied in the form of a border duty, are an important emergency measure to have available, " Goldsmith said in a statement.

Safeguard measures were temporary measures, normally applied to imports from all countries, that were designed to help a domestic industry adjust to a threatening and sudden surge of imports.

The bill also introduced guidelines for determining whether the imposition of a safeguard measure was in the public interest in order to increase the certainty and transparency around the process, and allowed the minister of commerce and consumer affairs to introduce provisional safeguards.

It extended the previous 30-working-day timeframe for the completion of a safeguard investigation to 75 working days or 85 days if provisional safeguard duties are requested.

"This bill introduces a robust regime that is in line with international rules. It allows safeguards to be introduced quickly and transparently," Goldsmith said.

The Trade (Safeguard Measures) Bill was introduced in September 2008 and replaces the Temporary Safeguard Authorities Act 1987, under which four safeguard investigations have been carried out, most recently in 1995. One of the four investigations resulted in the imposition of a temporary safeguard measure.

Source: Xinhua