Now lawBusiness & Trade Introduced in the House of Representatives, 24 Jul 2025

Rules now decide which UAE goods get lower import tax

Australia made its first trade deal with a Middle Eastern country. This law sets tests for which goods really come from the United Arab Emirates. It also lets border officers check Australian sellers.

Official name: Customs Amendment (Australia-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement Implementation) Bill 2025

Who it affects

• Importers bringing in goods from the Emirates: They can pay less tax at the border if their goods pass the tests. They also need a paper that proves where the goods come from.
• Australian businesses selling goods to the Emirates: They may have to keep records on where their goods came from. Officers may ask them questions about it.
• Shoppers: Some goods from the Emirates, like jewellery, perfume and furniture, may get a little cheaper.

Proving goods come from UAE

Australia and the United Arab Emirates signed a trade deal in Canberra on 6 November 2024. The Emirates is a small, rich country in the Middle East. Dubai is one of its cities.

The deal's full name is the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. It is Australia's first free trade deal with a country in the Middle East.

A free trade deal is a promise between countries. Each one cuts the tax it charges on the other's goods. This tax on goods coming into a country is called an import tax or customs duty.

Under this deal, the Emirates will drop import tax on over 99 per cent of Australian goods by value. That happens once the deal is fully in place. The government says this could lift Australian sales overseas by about $678 million a year. In return, Australia cuts import tax on some goods from the Emirates.

A trade deal needs a way to check where goods really come from. If not, a company could make goods somewhere else. It could then send them through the Emirates to dodge tax.

This law adds those checks to the Customs Act 1901. That is the main law on goods crossing the border. The checks are called rules of origin. A partner bill changes another law to set the new, lower tax rates.

Goods grown, caught or mined

The simplest test covers goods that come wholly from the Emirates. That means every bit of them comes from there.

The law lists what counts. Plants grown there count. So do animals born and raised there, fish caught in its waters, and minerals mined from its ground.

Fish caught further out at sea by a boat from the Emirates also count. So does scrap left over from factories there.

To get the lower tax, the importer needs a certificate of origin when the goods arrive. This is an official paper that says where the goods come from. Australia can also choose to let a trader off needing one.

Goods made from foreign parts

Most goods are made from parts from many places. These can still count as goods from the Emirates. The parts must be changed enough there, or there and in Australia together.

The deal has a long list of rules for each kind of product. A common rule is about product codes. Every traded product has a code in a world list. A world body of customs services runs that list.

Say foreign parts end up as a product with a different code. Then they have been changed enough, and the product passes.

The government's notes on the bill give an example. Jerk chicken bites are made in the Emirates. They use local chicken and spices from Jamaica.

The spices start in the spice chapter of the code list. They end up in the cooked meat chapter. That change is enough, so the chicken bites count as made in the Emirates.

Another rule is about value. A set share of the product's worth must come from the Emirates or Australia. For mixed vegetables, that share is 35 per cent of the factory price. Or it can be 40 per cent of the value used at the border.

There is also a small leeway. A product can still pass if the foreign parts that fail the code test are cheap. They must be worth 10 per cent or less of the border value.

The limit is 15 per cent if the factory price is used. For clothes and cloth, the 10 per cent test can be done by weight.

Sets, spare parts, packaging

Some goods are sold as a set, like a grooming kit with a mirror, brush and comb. The set counts if every item passes. It also passes if the foreign items are worth 20 per cent or less of the whole set.

Tools, spare parts and how-to booklets in the same box are usually left out. So is normal shop packaging, like a camera case.

Some products use the value test. For these, the government will write detailed rules on how to count the extra items. It can do this without a new vote.

Simple jobs do not count

The law lists simple jobs that do not turn foreign goods into local goods. These include freezing, washing, cutting and painting. Testing, putting goods in bottles or boxes, and adding labels are on the list too.

Simple mixing, simple putting together and adding water also do not count. Simple here means work that needs no special skills or machines.

So say spices from Jamaica are only put into bottles in the Emirates. They are still Jamaican spices. They do not get the lower tax.

Goods passing through other countries

Goods often stop in a third country on the way. That is fine if they are only unloaded, stored or split up there. They can also be relabelled for Australia or kept in good shape.

But the goods lose their status if they are worked on further in that third country. They also lose it if they are put on sale there before coming to Australia.

Checks on Australian exporters

Part 2 of the bill covers goods going the other way, from Australia to the Emirates. The Emirates may want proof that goods called Australian really are.

The government can write rules that make Australian sellers and makers keep records. The records show where their goods and materials came from.

A border officer with the right powers can demand those records. The officer can also ask the seller questions.

The officer can pass the records and answers to officials in the Emirates. This is only to check where the goods came from.

Not answering can be a crime even if you did not mean to break the law. But you do not have to hand over a record that would show you did a crime.

Say you run a small business in Perth that sends olive oil to Dubai. The Emirates asks if your oil really is Australian. Border officers could then ask for your farm and supplier records. They could send those to the Emirates.

Who the rules cover

The rules apply to goods brought in on or after the start date. They also cover goods that arrived earlier, if their tax rate was not yet worked out.

The checks on sellers apply to goods sent to the Emirates on or after the start date. This is true even if the goods were made before then.

Start date

The government brought in this bill. It came from the area of the Home Affairs minister, who looks after borders and security. It was put to the House of Representatives, the larger house of Parliament, on 24 July 2025.

It passed both houses of Parliament on 31 July 2025. The Governor-General is the King's stand-in in Australia. He or she signed it into law on 2 August 2025.

The main rules start on whichever date comes later. One is the day it became law. The other is the day the trade deal takes effect for Australia.

The deal takes effect 60 days after both countries say in writing they are ready. The minister must publish that date.

If the deal never takes effect, the main rules never start.

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum

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