Important General Information

Garbage Disposal

All garbage must be disposed of through the recognised disposal system for the particular port. The Quarantine Officer will explain this at each port.

Whilst in New Zealand, any work carried out on the vessel is not subject to New Zealand’s Goods and Services Tax (GST)of 12.5%. Further, any equipment or supplies imported for the vessel itself will also be free of Customs duty and GST. The Department of Inland Revenue requires that for these exemptions to be made the supplies must be seen to be fitted to or used on the vessel. It is an offence for such items then to be removed from the vessel, and they must be exported with the vessel when it leaves. Production of the Temporary Import Permit for the vessel is the usual means by which the vessel obtains such duty and tax-free services and supplies.
Whilst in New Zealand the paid crew of a visiting vessel are considered to be non-resident employees and are exempt from tax in New Zealand for a stay of up to 183 days, so long as their country of origin has a double-tax agreement with New Zealand and the vessel is considered as a “non-fixed base”.

To ensure that there is no delay in your departure you are requested to give the New Zealand Customs Service 72 hours prior notice. At that time you will be provided with a Departure of yachts and Small Craft Information Pack, which contains the following documents for completion:

• Departure cards
• Outward report
• Advance Information Sheet

At the agreed time of departure a Customs Officer will attend and complete Customs and Immigration formalities. The Master will then be issued a certificate of clearance. Once these formalities are completed, a vessel will be expected to leave the country within a reasonable time. If it is delayed for any reason, then the Master should contact the nearest Customs Officer to explain the situation.

An amendment to the Resource Management (Marine Pollution) Regulations to increase the controls on sewage discharges from boats came into force on 1 July 2002. The Regulations specify approved Grade A and Grade B on-board sewage treatment systems. The rules governing discharges of treated sewage from your boat depend on the type of treatment system that you have.
If your boat has a Grade A treatment system, you may discharge treated sewage anywhere except within 100 metres of a marine farm. Boats with a Grade B treatment system may discharge anywhere except within 500 metres of a marine farm or mataitai reserve (gazetted customary fishing area).

For discharges of untreated sewage from your boats you must be more than:

• 500 metres from the shore
• 500 metres from a marine farm and mataitai reserve
• 200 metres from a marine reserve and in waters more than 5 metres in depth.

It is the responsibility of each vessel-owner to ensure compliance with the regulations however to assist your understanding of the new requirements we provide below the specified Grade B sewage treatment systems as defined in Schedule 7 of the amended regulations. (Grade A treatment systems are defined by specific standards that must be met and these are listed in Schedule 6 of the Resource Management (Marine Pollution) Amendment Regulations 2002.)

– Delta Maine Head (Galley Maid Marine Products, US)
– Central Waste Treatment System (Galley Maid Marine Products, US)
– Lectra/San MC (Raritan Engineering Co., US)
– Saanx One (Sealand Technology, Inc., US)

Should you have any queries in respect of the legislation you are advised to contact the Ministry for the Environment (Telephone 64 3 963 0940).
And please remember that even if you are using an approved sewage treatment system it is not appropriate to discharge any waste within a marina.