On April 7, 2022, the "Protocol between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of New Zealand on upgrading the Free Trade Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of New Zealand" (hereinafter referred to as the "Upgrade Protocol") came into effect.
The China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement was signed on April 7, 2008 and came into effect on October 1 of the same year. China and New Zealand started negotiations on upgrading the free trade agreement in November 2016, and signed the "Upgrading Protocol" on January 26, 2021. The "Upgraded Protocol" further expands the market opening of goods, services, investment and other fields, further improves the level of rules such as trade facilitation, and adds four chapters including e-commerce, competition policy, government procurement, environment and trade, which are more in line with the needs of modern economic and trade development.
The "Upgrade Protocol" has enabled the free trade relationship between China and New Zealand to achieve further improvement in quality and efficiency on the basis of the "China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement" and the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" (RCEP).
