Hon Todd McClay

Minister of Trade
9 May 2016

TPP Bill introduced to Parliament

Minister of Trade Todd McClay has welcomed the introduction of Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Amendment Bill to Parliament as an omnibus Bill.

“TPP is important for New Zealand because it will remove barriers to trade for exporters of New Zealand goods and services in the Asia-Pacific region,” says Mr McClay.

“Although most of the obligations in TPP can be met by New Zealand’s existing domestic legal and policy regime, some changes are required.

“This Bill will make all domestic legislative changes required to comply with New Zealand’s obligations in TPP, with the exception for obligations related to plant variety rights, which New Zealand has a three year period following entry into force to implement. I now look forward to the Bill passing through Parliament’s legislative process.

“The introduction of this Bill is just the latest step in New Zealand’s domestic processes. The Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee has already examined the TPP text and the TPP National Interest Analysis and tabled its report in Parliament,” says Mr McClay.

The legislative amendments introduced by the Bill will not come into effect until TPP enters into force for New Zealand.

“It is now recognised that TPP It is our biggest FTA to date, and places us centrally in a region encompassing nearly 40 per cent of global GDP representing 800 million consumers who spend $28 trillion each year. An FTA with the first and third largest economies in the world, to ensure a level playing field for our exporters, has been a priority for successive New Zealand governments. TPP delivers this,” says Mr McClay.

TPP could come into force by late 2017/early 2018, once countries have completed their respective domestic processes necessary to ratify the agreement.

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