On April 7 2008 New Zealand and China signed a free trade agreement (the Agreement). The Agreement is said to provide mutually beneficial concessions in the areas of trade of goods, services and investment. New Zealand is the first country to enter into any sort of free trade agreement with China.

The Agreement refers specifically to the importance of intellectual property rights in "promoting economic and social development, particularly in the new digital economy, technological innovation and trade".

Under the Agreement each party must establish and maintain transparent intellectual property rights regimes as well as reaffirming their commitment to the TRIPs Agreement. The TRIPs Agreement is specifically incorporated into and made part of the Agreement.

The parties agree to cooperate in eliminating trade in counterfeit goods. This may be viewed as a hollow promise on China's part given the scale of China's counterfeiting trade. Anecdotal evidence is that China is the world's single largest manufacturer of counterfeit goods, with the vast majority of counterfeit goods coming out of China.

The Agreement also comes at a time when China is under the spotlight for both human rights and environmental abuses particularly as the Beijing Olympics draws closer.

In real terms, however, it promises to remove tariffs on 96% of New Zealand's exports to China and to save NZ$115.5 million ($91 million) on duty based on current trade. This is significant given that China is New Zealand's fourth largest export market behind Australia, the US and Japan.

Penny Catley and Kate Duckworth

Baldwins
Level 14, Baldwins Centre
342 Lambton Quay
Wellington
New Zealand
Tel: +64 4 472 1094
Fax: +64 4 473 6712
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