New Zealand-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement
The New Zealand-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement aims at fostering closer economic relations by reducing or removing trade and investment barriers. The Agreement builds on the existing ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. Most notably, the Agreement accelerated the tariff reduction/elimination schedule from 12 years (per the AANZFTA) to 7 years. It also provide improved investment protection provisions, including Most Favoured Nation (MFN) treatment.
The Agreement eliminates or reduces border tariffs on:
- Electric generation equipment
- Mechanical equipment including pumps, appliances and other advanced machinery
- Electric motors, transformers, batteries and capacitors
- Motor vehicles and vehicle parts (except for motor vehicle imports into Myanmar and Vietnam)
- Mineral ore and processed products including graphite, manganese, copper, aluminium and nickel
- Various products manufactured using the above minerals and metals such as sheets, powders, bars, and plates
- Photovoltaic cells
The Agreement also includes rules of origin and local content provisions. Goods are considered as originating from a signatory country, and thus benefitting from preferential tariff treatment if:
- they are wholly produced or obtained in the country
- they qualify for a change in HS code as defined for each good
- they meet minimum regional value content requirements e.g. within 10% of FOB value or total weight of the good.
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