Sutton welcomes report calling for CER rules to be liberalised

1.00pm

Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton today welcomed a new report saying rules governing trans-Tasman trade should be liberalised as they are too restrictive.

Australia's Productivity Commission, in a review of the rules or origin rules covering the Closer Economic Relations (CER) free trade agreement, said duty charges on trans-Tasman goods should be dropped altogether in some cases.

The CER has been in operation for two decades.

Under the agreement, products have to have a certain amount of product made in either Australia or New Zealand to qualify for tariff-free status.

New Zealand had been seeking review and reform of CER rules of origin "for years", Mr Sutton told NZPA.

"Some protectionist Australian industry sectors have resisted, because the present threshold is much harder for small manufacturing sectors such as New Zealand to get over, than the bigger ones such as Australia's.

"Periodically we have made advances in this area, but they have been knocked back."

"We will look at the commission report and continue to work on this and other possibilities in this area with the Australian Government."

New Zealand officials are currently in Canberra discussing CER rules of origin.

Mr Sutton said he had no doubts that conclusions of the commission "will be pertinent to their discussions".