A SINGLE digitised system that will streamline New Zealand’s Working Tariff is to be introduced by the New Zealand Customs Service.
WiseTech Global is to digitize access and maintenance of the tariff document which is based on the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Harmonized System.
All goods imported into and exported from New Zealand must be classified against the Working Tariff of New Zealand. This determines the type of commodities, the amount of duty, excise, levies and taxes payable on imported goods and allows the country to understand its trade flows, deal with various controlled goods, and meet international obligations and trade restrictions.
The large, highly technical classification system is used by more than 200 countries and economies as a basis for their customs tariffs and for the collection of international trade statistics.
A WiseTech media release said more than 98% of the merchandise in international trade is classified in terms of the Harmonized System.
“The solution will provide a fully online Customs Tariff Management Portal, streamlining the way Customs makes changes to the Tariff, replacing many disparate internal Customs’ processes, emails, paper documents, and digital formats,” the release said.
“This will simplify accurate production and dissemination of the Working Tariff to help border agencies, including Customs and the Ministry for Primary Industries, to easily and accurately manage the Working Tariff and related documents required for international trade.
“Additionally, as part of the contract between WiseTech and the New Zealand Customs Service, WiseTech will provide a New Zealand specific community edition of its widely used BorderWise product at no cost to users to access a current, accurate and searchable version of the Working Tariff. The product will also continue to support production of the current PDF and a printed version of the Tariff for those that rely on them.”
The contract, which has an initial term of seven years (including a two-year implementation period) plus options to renew the contract for successive further terms, was awarded to WiseTech following a competitive tender process.
The Customs Tariff Management Portal – is a new WiseTech built solution that will be delivered to New Zealand to enhance the management of the data sets, and documentation in human and computer readable formats, that underpin the Working Tariff.
WiseTech said this is the first step to Tariff Management and WiseTech will continue to build this product suite to be available to many governments in a way that solves a common and complex issue that is often found in managing, updating and maintaining a country’s working tariff.
Currently, as is common in many countries and border agencies, this information exists in a combination of emails, Word and Excel documents, PDFs, printed documents and various physical and electronic books in multiple formats and within electronic customs entry processing systems such as New Zealand Trade Single Window system.
The BorderWise Community Edition (New Zealand) – is a New Zealand-specific edition of WiseTech’s BorderWise software, tailored to help understand and operate within New Zealand’s working tariff, legal notes, tariff concessions, customs advice, free trade agreements, and many other aspects of the requirements for international trade.
Importers, exporters, customs brokers, freight forwarders and logistics service providers, and New Zealand government agencies, will be able to access the BorderWise Community Edition (New Zealand), at no cost to users.
This allows them to easily obtain the information about New Zealand’s Tariff. Access can be upgraded to include many other major economies and their working tariffs and the WCO Harmonized System.
CEO of WiseTech Global, Zubin Appoo said the Tariff Management Portal will be a significant first step in WiseTech providing a global solution intended for many countries and border agencies.
“The development of this capability is a logical step within our goal to digitally connect all players within global trade and logistics, driving greater productivity and efficiencies across the industry,” he said.