The free trade agreement between the European Union and New Zealand, the content of which was agreed on 30 June 2023, is entering the final legal stages. Ratification by the EU was recently completed and final approval by New Zealand is expected by the second quarter of 2024 at the latest.  

In trade between the countries of the European Union and New Zealand, almost all import duties on goods originating in the respective partner region will eventually be eliminated. For some products listed in Annex 2-A of the agreement, the reduction will be phased in over several years.  

The agreement is based on the new principle of the REX (registered exporter) and no longer on the authorised exporter, for which a customs authorisation is required. Companies wishing to use such agreements must register once - in Germany via the customs portal - and then receive an authorisation number for the REX. However, the same due diligence obligations apply to the use of the REX number as for an Authorised Exporter.  

New Zealand (NZ) can be listed on all supplier declarations from the formal entry into force. The "Declaration of Origin" can also be issued on export documents in accordance with the REX agreement to enable the customer to reduce import duties.  

Which preferential agreement applies to which country and which documents must be taken into account? 

There is a large number of free trade agreements with the European Union. Customs provides a list of all applicable agreements online (on WuP Online).

However, many companies do not go to the enormous effort of checking for each product whether the goods fulfil the requirements for benefits in international trade. Many suppliers ask their customers for templates when issuing the long-term supplier's declaration (SSD). To simplify the process of obtaining SSDs, they can be conveniently obtained from SAP ERP or S/4HANA using the M.SecureTrade preference management tool, functional area supplier-side supplier declaration, which is fully integrated into SAP. The supplier declarations are submitted electronically by the suppliers via a web portal and the data is automatically transferred to the requesting company's SAP system. 

With the M.SecureTrade preference calculation module, the supplier declarations obtained can be evaluated directly together with the company's own production steps so that the current preference status can be viewed directly in the SAP system. The preference rules are imported at any time from Reguvis (formerly the Federal Gazette).*

And as an additional supplement, you can use the customer-side supplier declarations module to issue an SSD directly from this database and make it available to customers on request.  

*Agreement with Reguvis required

Mercoline makes IT simple and accessible:

You can effortlessly and automatically take complex preference information handling requirements into account with Mercoline's software - and use preferential agreements to your advantage: Fully integrated and automated in SAP S/4HANA and SAP ERP.  

Further links:  

Text of the agreement: EU-New Zealand: Text of the agreement