Cost recovery proposal to maintain and expand New Zealand Food Safety’s core regulatory services under the Food Act 2014

Updates

31 May 2024 – Cost recovery changes

Consultation has closed. We would like to thank all those who sent in a submission with their feedback. All feedback has been analysed and the final outcome has been decided on by the Government, as listed below.

Introduce a food importer levy (starting 1 July 2024) of $67.50 applicable to those importing between 1 to 118,500kg of food, $0.00057 per kg of imported food applicable to those importing more than 118,500kg, and
Introduce a domestic food business levy (phased in from 1 July 2025) at a rate of $57.50 per site in year one, $86.25 per site in year 2, and $115 in year 3.

The changes will take effect from 1 July 2024 with the levies being charged at the end of the 2024/25 financial year.

Gazette notice – NZ Gazette

Food Amendment Regulations – NZ Legislation

Cabinet paper and related documents

Annual Cost Recovery Package 2024 and Food Act Levies: Policy Decisions – Cabinet paper [PDF, 1.2 MB]

Appendix one: Summary of the proposals [PDF, 1.6 MB]

Appendix two: Detailed proposals [PDF, 951 KB]

Appendix three: Cost Recovery Impact Statement (Annual Package) [PDF, 3.3 MB]

Appendix four: Cost Recovery Impact Statement (Food Act levies) [PDF, 2 MB]

Summary of submissions

A summary of submissions is available, prepared by MPI, takes into account the feedback and submissions received during the consultation.

Summary of submissions [PDF, 330 KB]

8 March 2024 – Revised importer levy proposal

During the consultation process, an anomaly was identified, leading to an amendment in the proposed importer levy.

The proposed rate for the importer levy has been updated to a flat fee of $67.50 applicable to those importing between 0 (zero) and 118,500kg of food and $0.57 per tonne of imported food thereafter.

Previously, the proposed threshold was for a flat fee of $67.50 applicable to those importing between 0 (zero) and 49,000kg of food and $0.57 per tonne of imported food thereafter.

If you have already made a submission and would like to make further comments because of this update, we encourage you to do so by 5pm on 15 March when the consultation closes.

See the table with the revised importer levy

Consultation background

This consultation is about a proposal to maintain and expand New Zealand Food Safety's services under the Food Act 2014 which provide education, oversight, rules, and monitoring services. We also sought views on whether these services should be cost recovered from the industries that benefit from them.

We sought feedback on:

the proposals to expand some services that are required to support a robust food safety system
2 levies that will be used to fund the proposed services.

Consultation document

Proposal to maintain and expand New Zealand Food Safety’s core regulatory services under the Food Act 2014 [PDF, 4.1 MB]

Summary of cost recovery proposals for the expanded services

	Domestic food business levy (from the 2025/26 financial year)	Food importer levy (from the 2024/25 financial year)
Rate	2025: $57.50 per site 2026: $86.25 2027: $115	A flat fee of $67.50 for importing between 0 (zero) and 118,500kg of food; thereafter $0.57 per tonne of imported food
Number of affected businesses	35,300 businesses registered under the Food Act	3,774 registered businesses
Annual revenue	+$5.6 million (by 2027)	+$1.5 million

Submissions are public information

Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.

People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.

Official Information Act 1982 – NZ Legislation