New Zealand Customs Service

The New Zealand Customs Service (Customs, Māori: Te Mana Ārai o Aotearoa) is a state sector organisation in New Zealand whose role is to provide border control and protect the community from potential risks arising from international trade and travel, as well as collecting duties and taxes on imports to the country.

New Zealand Customs Service Te Mana Ārai O Aotearoa (Māori)
Agency overview
Formed	1840
Employees	Approx 1,569[1]
Annual budget	Vote Customs Total budget for 2022/23 $299,111,000[2]
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	New Zealand
Governing body	New Zealand Government
Constituting instrument	Customs and Excise Act 2018
Operational structure
Headquarters	The Customhouse, 1 Hinemoa St, Harbour Quays, Wellington
Minister responsible	Casey Costello, Minister of Customs
Agency executive	Christine Stevenson, Chief Executive and Comptroller of Customs
Facilities
Stations	23
Website
www.customs.govt.nz

History

Customs is the oldest government department in New Zealand.^[3] Formed on 5 January 1840, it pre-dates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi by one month.^[4] Its early establishment was necessary to collect revenue for the fledgling government, and over the years duties, tariffs and taxes collected by Customs have remained a major source of revenue for the country, although customs has also been used to impose various control over the movement of people and the distribution of particular products, in particular alcohol and tobacco.

In 1996, the New Zealand Customs Department was renamed the New Zealand Customs Service.^[3]

In recent years Customs has modernised itself in order to keep pace with new technologies and the ever-increasing volumes of international passengers and trade, while balancing its law enforcement and compliance obligations. Staffing levels sit between 1300 and 1500 nationally^{[citation needed]}, with its head office located in Wellington.

In May 2025, Customs Minister Casey Costello announced that the New Zealand Government would allocate funds from the 2025 New Zealand budget to create a new overseas-based officer to assist with investigations and information sharing.^[5]

Responsibilities

A container x-ray inspection unit at Ports of Auckland.

Customs is a law enforcement agency in its own right, and is responsible for intercepting contraband, and checks international travellers and their baggage, as well as cargo and mail, for banned or prohibited items. Contrary to popular belief, it is not responsible for biosecurity items such as food and other agricultural items declared at ports of entry - this is the responsibility for the Ministry for Primary Industries. Customs is also responsible for assessing and collecting Customs duties, excise taxes and Goods and Services Tax on imports and protecting New Zealand businesses against illegal trade. It is second only to the Inland Revenue Department for the amount of revenue it collects for the New Zealand Government. It exercises controls over restricted and prohibited imports and exports, including objectionable material (such as child sex abuse images), drugs, firearms and hazardous waste and also collects import and export data.

Customs is responsible for documentation of all imports and exports (in 2006/7 this was 47 million imports and 33 million exports). Since 1999 all documentation to Customs has been electronic.^[6]

Customs works closely with New Zealand's other border agencies, the Ministry for Primary Industries, the Aviation Security Service (AvSec) and Immigration New Zealand. It also works very closely with the New Zealand Police and the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand in joint operations involving the importation of drugs^{[citation needed]}, and with the Department of Conservation on the management of items that are subject to CITES.

Customs established the Trade Single Window in 2013 to provide a single place to lodge import and export documents with all of New Zealand Government.^{[citation needed]}

Whilst an unarmed agency, some Customs officers are authorised to carry handcuffs and make arrests in relation to offences relating to the importation of drugs and other prohibited goods.^[7]

Rank badges

New Zealand Customs Service [8]
	Comptroller	Deputy Comptroller	Group Manager	Manager	Operations Manager	Chief Customs Officer	Supervising Customs Officer	Senior Customs Officer	Customs Officer	Assistant Customs Officer

Office locations

Customs officers are based at the main cities in New Zealand, as well as a number of smaller ports. Its headquarters is in Wellington, New Zealand's capital city. Customs also has liaison officers based at the following overseas locations: Bangkok, Beijing, Brussels, Canberra, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Los Angeles and Washington D.C.^{[citation needed]}