Fact Sheet 27 - Customs Requirements for Processing Cruise Vessels on Departure from New Zealand
This fact sheet details the documentation to be produced which satisfies the statutory requirements relating to goods for export, clearance of craft and persons, under the Customs and Excise Act 1996. This documentation enables the New Zealand Customs Service to manage the risks posed by craft, people and goods departing New Zealand.
What documentation is required?What are the clearance processing procedures?What are the requirements for ships stores?What are the requirements for cash reporting?Cruise Vessel Coordination- What documentation is required?
- Certificate of Clearance
Cruise vessels may not depart from any Customs place in New Zealand, to a point outside New Zealand, unless a Certificate of Clearance (Form C3) has been granted. A Certificate of Clearance is granted when an Outward Report (Form C2) and supporting documentation (as detailed below) has been delivered to Customs.
Outward Report
All cruise vessels departing from New Zealand to an overseas port are required to present one copy of Form C2 — Outward Report (Ships) to Customs, which must contain the following information:
- Part A — Departure details of craft.
- Part B — Supporting documentation (see below) relating to goods and persons on board.
- Part C — Outward crew list.
The outward report must be signed by the owner or person in charge of the craft. It may not be signed by any other person.
Supporting documentation
The following documentation should be attached to the outward report if applicable. Otherwise enter a nil return:
- Cargo manifest — if the craft is carrying commercial cargo.
- Full passenger list — all passengers on board.
- Transit passenger list — passengers who have arrived and are departing on the same craft.
- Craft stores requisitions — a form used to apply for approval to ship stores duty free from New Zealand, and receipt or validate that the stores have been received on board the craft.
- Controlled drugs and firearms list.
- Crew lists — transit and embarking.
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- What are the clearance processing procedures?
- On departure, most cruise ship passengers are processed at a Customs place, usually at the port where the passenger exchange is expected to occur. Approval to be processed elsewhere must be obtained from the New Zealand Customs Service prior to departure from:
Cruise Vessel Co-ordinator
New Zealand Customs Service
Box 29
Auckland
Telephone: 09-359 6620
Mobile: 029-359 6622
Facsimile: 09-359 6692
The embarkation process is generally conducted alongside, due to the numbers of passengers and crew joining the vessel. This may not necessarily occur at the last port.
At the last port
Customs officers will liaise with the Purser to obtain the following:
- Passports or identity documents of any embarking passengers and crew that may have joined the vessel since the passenger exchange at any previous ports.
- Embarking passenger and crew list (passengers and crew joining the craft for departure only).
- Transit passenger and crew list (passengers and crew who have arrived and are departing on the same craft).
- Completed New Zealand Passenger Departure Cards for all embarking passengers and crew as above.
Departure Advanced Passenger Information
A departure API file including all passengers and crew onboard should be sent no later than 24 hours after a vessels departure from its final New Zealand Port. API files should be sent to apicustodian@customs.govt.nz
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- What are the requirements for ships stores?
- Ships stores are any goods (including tobacco and alcohol) for use or consumption on board a craft by passengers or crew, or for the service of a craft. Duty free stores are stores which may, under certain conditions, be shipped from New Zealand free of Customs duty.
To obtain approval from the New Zealand Customs Service to ship the stores, the owner, agent, or person in charge must complete Form NZCS 325 — Requisition for Ships Stores and submit it to the New Zealand Customs Service no later than 12 hours prior to departure. The form must be fully completed, including the quantity of stores on board, and must be signed and dated. (Ship providores normally undertake this process as agent for the master of a cruise vessel.)
Stores cannot be delivered to the vessel unless approval from the New Zealand Customs Service has been granted.
The requisition form must be receipted (signed, dated and stamped) by the person in charge of the craft, or on their behalf, when the stores are received on board. The providore must retain a copy for audit purposes.back to top
- What are the requirements for cash reporting?
- Every person who departs from New Zealand and has in their possession cash in excess of $10,000 in any denomination, is required to complete a Border Cash Report (Form NZCS 337). Declared cash means coin or paper money, of New Zealand or of a foreign currency, but does not include travellers cheques or other monetary instruments.
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- Cruise Vessel Coordination
- Contact the Cruise Vessel Coordinators on:
Telephone: +64-9-359 6620
Mobile: +64-29-359 6622
Facsimile: +64-9-359 6692.
For further information, contact your nearest office of the New Zealand Customs Service or visit the Customs website www.customs.govt.nz or Call Customs on 0800 4 CUSTOMS or 0800 428 786.back to top