Accessibility
The New Zealand Customs Service (Customs) is committed to ensuring that our website is as widely accessible as possible.
At present the Customs website is in the process of being upgraded to meet the New Zealand Government Website Standards and Recommendations as well as the W3C accessibility standards.
Accessibility Features
We have recently redesigned our HTML templates and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to help eliminate errors, improve page structure, and ensure that our website is more accessible.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) have been used to dictate the presentation of the website and to preserve the schematic markup of the content from the presentation. This allows the presentation to be maintained independent of the content and the content has been provided non-formatted if required.
All images are accompanied with an alternative text description for browsers which do not support images or for users who have images turned off. The description allows user agents to be able to interpret the content.
All pages can be navigated with a mouse using the Access Keys described below.
Alternative document formats are provided where possible for online documents - and historical documents are in the process of being converted to HTML.
Access Keys
The Customs website has a number of access keys that enable a user to navigate the most commonly used pages without a mouse. You can use these access keys from anywhere in the website.
To use the access keys - hold down the ALT key (if you have a PC) or the CONTROL key (if you have an Apple computer) as well as the key you require eg ALT + 2 to go to the Site Map.
Access key support is browser specific so if the above instructions do not work - consult your browser website. Some browsers may require the user to press ENTER to confirm a choice. If you use Opera browser - hold down SHIFT + ESC then press the key you require.
Table of Access Keys used on the Customs Website
Key |
Function |
| 0 |
Accessibility |
| 1 |
Home Page |
| 2 |
Site Map |
| 9 |
Contact Us |
| [ |
Main Content |
| / |
Go to www.Govt.nz |
Browsers and Operating Environments
The Customs website is best viewed using Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows 2003 at 1080 x 1024 monitor resolution.
However, the Customs website has been tested on the following browsers and operating environments:
- Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows 2003
- Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP
- Internet Explorer 7.0 on Windows XP
- Mozilla Firefox 2.0 on Windows XP
- Mozilla Firefox 2.0 on MAC OS X
- Safari 1.3 on MAC OS X
If you are having technical difficulties using the Customs website, please contact the Website Manager.
If you want to report broken links, content problems, or have a suggestion for improving this website, please contact the Website Manager.
Portable Document Format (PDF) files
A number of our documents are available online as Adobe Acrobat PDF files. PDF files ensure that the presentation is consistent across multiple platforms and provides a structured medium to print from. In order to view PDF files a PDF reader must be downloaded and installed. A PDF reader can be obtained free from the Adobe Acrobat website.