Have your say
The bill has passed — here's what happens next
Parliament passed the India Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill on 16 September 2026, 93 votes to 29, after taking its final three stages under urgency. If you made a submission — it was read, and several submitter-driven changes made it into the law. This page records what the process produced and what remains before the agreement takes effect.
How it played out
- Submissions — closed 19 July. The committee received 149 submissions on the bill, compared with 1,780 on the treaty examination two months earlier. Published submissions are on the Parliament bills site; we mirror a selection on the documents page.
- Oral hearings — 27 and 30 July. Sixteen submitters spoke, mostly by video link; recordings are archived via the committee's page on the Parliament website and its Vimeo archive.
- Committee report — 10 September. The committee recommended by majority that the bill pass. Every amendment it proposed was agreed unanimously, and no party filed a minority view. Read the commentary and amended bill (PDF).
- Second reading — Tuesday 15 September, 93–29. Taken under urgency as Parliament cleared its agenda before rising for the election.
- Committee of the whole House and third reading — Wednesday 16 September, 93–29. The omnibus bill was divided into its component bills, with the fruit and honey quota regime becoming a stand-alone bill. New Zealand First filibustered the committee stage. National, ACT and Labour voted for; New Zealand First, the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and two independents against.
What happens next
- Royal Assent. The Governor-General signs the bills into law. Parliament's record still showed this as pending on 17 September.
- Ratification. Each government notifies the other in writing that its internal procedures are complete. In New Zealand this is an executive act needing no further vote, so it can happen after the House rises on 24 September; in India it is likewise an executive decision. India's Ministry of Commerce says both sides are "working closely" to complete their processes.
- Entry into force. Article 20 of the treaty sets it at 30 days after the exchange of notifications, or another date the two governments agree. India has signalled the second half of October, with 19 October reported. That is an expectation until both governments announce a date.
- Day one. Tariffs fall on 57% of NZ exports to India and on all Indian exports to NZ; the apple, kiwifruit and mānuka honey quotas open (pro-rated for the part-year, thanks to a committee amendment); Immigration New Zealand publishes the visa instructions for the FTA pathways. Regulations for the quota systems are being consulted on now so they can be made as soon as the empowering law is in force.
What submissions did — and didn't — achieve
Submissions did —
- Change the bill. The committee credits submitters for pro-rata first-year quotas, use-it-or-lose-it quota rules with a penalty for hoarding, a 15-working-day deadline for reviewing export-certificate decisions, wider consultation on fees, a ministerial power to order audits, and the Ministry for Primary Industries being held to the same conflict-of-interest and record-keeping rules as private quota managers.
- Fix the search powers. Submitters flagged that the bill's search-warrant clause sat outside the Search and Surveillance Act's protections; the committee aligned it and rejected warrantless search powers outright.
- Put evidence on the permanent public record — 149 submissions and 16 hearings, cited in the committee's commentary and in the House debates.
Submissions didn't —
- Touch the treaty. Every recommended change was to quota administration or enforcement machinery; the FTA text, fixed at signature, was never on the table.
- Win any of the bigger asks. Calls for supplementary economic modelling, analysis of the foreign-payroll tax question, safeguards around the UNDRIP affirmation, or a delay to ratification appear nowhere in the committee's recommendations — and no party wrote a minority view to carry them.
- Change a vote. The 93–29 margin at third reading matched the first reading exactly. Critics read that as proof that scrutiny after support was locked in was symbolic; supporters read it as a settled mandate.
Is there anything left to have a say on?
Three things. The regulations that will run the apple, kiwifruit and mānuka honey quotas are being consulted on by the Ministry for Primary Industries — the committee added a transitional clause so that consultation counts. The election on 7 November is where the deal's politics now play out: every party has a stated position, and the parties that opposed the bill did so for different reasons. And the process question — whether Parliament should scrutinise treaties before signature rather than after support is locked in — is a live reform debate on the debate page that will outlast this agreement. The Ask a question page and FAQ remain here for making sense of what was agreed.
Reading others' submissions
Submissions on the bill (149 written, 16 heard orally) are published on the Parliament bills site. The earlier treaty examination attracted 1,780 written submissions (52 heard orally) — browsable via the examination page. We mirror a selection from both rounds on this site's documents page.
Corrections
Balance is the whole point of this site. If we've got a fact wrong, quoted the treaty inaccurately, or under-sold either side's best argument, we want to know. The quickest way to flag it is through the Ask a question page — start your message with "CORRECTION:" and say which page and claim you're challenging. Every question is logged and reviewed, and verified corrections get made.