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6. Deepening Integration
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Chapter
- Additional Information
34 ANZCERTA and Regional Integration the maritime labour unions in the two countries. Progress on this issue would eventually be driven by domestic policy action in each country. AnotablefeatureofANZCERTAanditsassociatedarrangements which continues to the present day is the absence of any formal dispute settlement mechanisms. Disputes are expected to be resolved through consultations between the relevant officials and ministers from the two countries. If one of the parties has a grievance regarding compliance with provisions of the agreement, the other party is obliged to enter into consultations on the issue. If consultation fails to resolve the dispute however there is no further arbitration or adjudicatory procedure provided under the agreement to which the aggrieved party can have recourse. The only option for the aggrieved party in such cases is recourse to dispute settlement under international agreements to which both partners are signatory, such as the WTO. Obviously this can only apply if the issue under dispute is covered by an international agreement that contains a dispute settlement mechanism. 6. Deepening Integration The period since the early 1990s has seen the further formalization and deepening of economic integration between the two countries across the broad range of issues covered in the integration framework that had been established at the end of the preceding decade. Much of this progress involved programmes and processes developed to give effect to the commitments to further cooperation arising from understandings reached in the 1988 review and its immediate aftermath. In other cases the governments responded to newly emerging problems or to pressure from the business communities in one or both countries. The level of priority given by the two governments to transTasman economic integration tended to vary over time. Lloyd 01 ANZCERTA 11/22/10, 9:52 AM 34 ANZCERTA and Regional Integration 35 (1995) notes that some variation in the prioritization of issues was related to domestic politics in each country. He also notes that pressure for further deepening of integration tended to emanate more from the New Zealand side, whereas the Australian Government was more inclined to be content with the level of integration already achieved. He relates this to the obvious fact that the relationship is of much greater relative importance to New Zealand than to Australia, so that New Zealand would generally tend to see greater gains from further integration. Against this background the maintenance of momentum owed much to the intensive programme of regular meetings established between various groups of officials and ministers to give effect to the understandings reached between the two governments, as well as the formal reviews of ANZCERTA which took place, for example, in 1992 and 1995. Trade in Goods: Rules of Origin Difficulties with the ANZCERTA rules of origin, especially on the New Zealand side, were a frequent subject for discussion. As a result the rules were modified in ways designed to provide some additional flexibility, but the 50 per cent RVC requirement remained the basis of the rules. Inability to reach agreement on a substantial lowering of the RVC requirement was said to be a contributing factor to the closure of the New Zealand motor vehicle assembly industry in 1998 (Scollay et al. 1998). Customs The Joint Understanding on Harmonization of Customs Policies acted as a springboard for sustained cooperation between the customs administrations of the two partners, streamlining and simplifying customs procedures applying to bilateral trade, and harmonizing procedures where considered appropriate. The 01 ANZCERTA 11/22/10, 9:52 AM 35 [35.171.159.141] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 01:49 GMT) 36 ANZCERTA and Regional Integration original Understanding was reinforced in 1996 by the conclusion of Cooperative Arrangements Regarding Mutual Assistance between Customs administrations. The degree of confidence and trust between the two administrations has facilitated a number of arrangements to exchange information, for example, exchange of risk and threat analyses, exchange of commercial shipping risk assessments where the next port of call is in the other partner, and operational intelligence sharing in relation to air passenger stream. Quarantine/Biosecurity The Protocol on Harmonization of Quarantine Administrative Procedures has also led to substantial progress on harmonization of quarantine procedures. A high-level dialogue known as the Consultative Group on Biosecurity Cooperation (CGBC) was established in 1999 to examine procedures further, particularly risk analysis procedures, with a view to streamlining them, as well as regularly reviewing other aspects of the biosecurity interaction between the two countries. The CGBC has four working groups dealing with plant health, animal health, border operations, and risk analysis...