Closer Economic Relations

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Closer economic relations ( CER ; German about " Closer Economic Relations ") is the name for a 1983 closed free trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand . The full name is Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (ANZCERTA). However, the abbreviation has also established itself in official linguistic usage. The original agreement was later supplemented by several additional protocols. With a few exceptions, the CER agreements have lifted all restrictions on the movement of goods and services and on the labor market between Australia and New Zealand.

history

CER is the successor to the New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement signed on August 31, 1965 and valid since January 1, 1966 between Australia and New Zealand , which was generally considered to be too bureaucratic. In particular, the procedure of nominating extensive product lists individually for participation in free trade was considered too complicated and was a major reason for starting negotiations on a new agreement, announced in a joint declaration by the prime ministers of both countries in March 1980 The basic principle of CER is essentially the reverse of the previous process: in CER all products and services are subject to free trade, for which this is not expressly excluded.

The original CER agreement was signed on March 28, 1983 by then Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand, Malcolm Fraser and Robert Muldoon . However, essential parts of the agreement entered into force on January 1, 1983 through a Heads of Agreement concluded on December 14, 1982 . The Protocol on Trade in Services of 1988, beginning January 1, 1989, lifted all restrictions on the transfer of services between the two countries, with few exceptions. The Protocol on Harmonization of Quarantine Administrative Procedures , also concluded in 1988, standardized the quarantine regulations between the two countries and thus simplified trade for certain groups of goods. With the Protocol on the Acceleration of Free Trade in Goods , from July 1, 1990, all customs duties and quantity restrictions between the two countries were lifted.

An agreement signed in 1995, the Agreement on Joint Food Standards , agreed common standards in the area of food production and distribution and a joint food authority was created with Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ). The Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Arrangement , which was concluded in July 1996 and came into force on May 1, 1998, regulates the mutual recognition of product approvals as well as professional qualifications and approvals. On December 20, 2002, a joint food code also came into force. The Open Skies Agreement was also concluded in 2002 , which provides for the creation of a single airspace over both countries.

Essential provisions

In principle, all restrictions have been lifted for trade in products between the two countries. This also means that a product that can be legally marketed in one of the two countries can also be sold in the other country. Measures against price dumping and subsidies for products in trade between the two countries are prohibited.

Service companies based in Australia or New Zealand can offer their services in either country without restrictions. A negative list regulates exceptions to this. Currently this affects the aviation and coastal shipping sectors for New Zealand and air transport, radio and television , insurance , postal services and coastal shipping for Australia.

Regulations on a free labor market, summarized under the name Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement , allow residents of both countries to travel to the other country without restrictions, to settle there indefinitely and to take up work. This is secured by corresponding agreements on health and social insurance . With exceptions in a few areas, such as the health sector, both countries recognize the professional qualifications and permits of the other contract partner.

Both contractual partners have undertaken to harmonize the areas of corporate taxation , competition law , insurance, takeover law , consumer protection , insolvency law as well as patents and trademarks and to reduce remaining exceptions and restrictions as far as possible.

consequences

The market created by CER is around 25 million people. The share of New Zealand's exports to Australia has increased from 14 percent in 1983 to 20.5 percent in 2004. Conversely, New Zealand was Australia's fifth most important foreign trade partner in 2003 with a share of 6.6 percent of Australian exports. Trade between the two countries has grown by an average of nine to ten percent annually since 1990, an increase that was consistently higher than the growth rate of the general foreign trade of both countries. Australia is New Zealand's main foreign investor today , while New Zealand ranks ninth in terms of foreign investment in Australia.

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