{"id":18485,"date":"2026-09-11T04:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18485"},"modified":"2026-09-11T04:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:48:12","slug":"india-free-trade-deal-moves-step-closer-as-select-committee-backs-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18485","title":{"rendered":"India free trade deal moves step closer as Select Committee backs bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The ratifying of the India free trade agreement in Parliament has moved a step closer, with a Select Committee recommending the legislation that brings the FTA into force be passed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The foreign affairs, defence, and trade committee recommended by majority to implement the India Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill, with some amendments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The agreement itself was signed in April, meaning the committee cannot suggest changes to the contents of the FTA itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But what the MPs can do is suggest changes to the legislation that implements the agreement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The FTA eliminates or reduces tariffs on 95 percent of exports, including kiwifruit, apples, meat, coal, wool, and forestry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the committee found the bill as introduced did not accommodate the possibility of the FTA entering into force part-way through the quota year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“This could create uncertainty for applicants about available quota, and potentially miss an opportunity to benefit from reduced<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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tariffs in the first year,” it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The committee suggested new clauses allowing for pro-rata allocations of apple, kiwifruit, albumin, and and m\u0101nuka honey quotas in the first year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It also suggested some changes around search and seizure powers, related to offences within the FTA such as exporting a product to India without or in excess of a quota allocation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Trade Minister Todd McClay said he was pleased the committee had recommended passing the legislation, which he said was an important step towards ratifying the deal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“There is strong support for this important agreement across the business community, the primary sector, the services sector and many New Zealanders up and down the country,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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McClay said the government continued to work towards ratification later this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Earlier this month, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was asked to address Indian media reports that the FTA could enter into force as soon as October.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Pretty exciting, isn’t it?” he said, without confirming a timeframe, merely adding the government was “cranking it” through the legislative schedule before the House rises.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The bill would need to go through its second reading, the Committee of the Whole stage, and the third reading before it could be sent for Royal Assent.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
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rnz<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ratifying of the India free trade agreement in Parliament has moved a step closer, with a Select Committee recommending the legislation that brings the FTA into force be passed. The foreign affairs, defence, and trade committee recommended by majority to implement the India Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill, with some amendments. The agreement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18487,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18485\/revisions\/18487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}