How to declare items when arriving in NZ

Some foods, drinks, sports and outdoor equipment, and animal and plant products can carry harmful pests and diseases. If you’re unsure, declare your items when you arrive or put them in the bin, otherwise you can get a fine.

Extra border requirements for passengers from Indonesia

Due to a foot and mouth disease outbreak in Indonesia, Biosecurity New Zealand has enhanced screening in place for travellers arriving in New Zealand from Bali.

Prepare for your arrival to NZ

To make sure your arrival in New Zealand goes smoothly:

• become familiar with the requirements outlined on this page
• fill out your digital traveller declaration correctly before arrival so our experienced staff can efficiently and accurately assess biosecurity risk
• declare all risk items – like food, plants, wooden products, soil, water, outdoor equipment, and animal products so we can assess and prevent any pests or diseases entering New Zealand
• dispose of undeclared risk goods in marked amnesty bins on your arrival to avoid being searched or fined. This material is safely disposed of to remove biosecurity risk.
• prohibited and restricted items like products from endangered animal or plant species

Declared risk goods may be inspected to ensure it's safe for them to be brought into New Zealand.

Remember, if you fail to declare risk goods, you could face a $400 instant fine or be prosecuted.

You must declare risk goods

Risk goods may be on your person (in your clothing or a small bag) or in your luggage. You should declare risk goods by completing a New Zealand Traveller Declaration. It's free to complete a digital declaration on the official New Zealand Traveller Declaration website or the NZTD app. A paper declaration form is available for travellers who cannot complete it online.

If you make a false or incorrect declaration – even by accident – you are breaking the law and you can be fined or put in prison.

What are risk goods?

It's not possible for us to list all the goods considered a risk. This is because an item's risk isn't always the same. It depends on things like the country it comes from, its ingredients, or packaging.

As part of the declaration process, an officer is likely to ask you questions to clearly establish what you are carrying. The answers you give in this interview are part of your declaration. If you give incomplete answers about your risk goods, you can still be fined or prosecuted if any are found during an inspection.

OUR TOOL WILL HELP YOU FIND OUT WHAT IS ALLOWED

We've got a tool to help you quickly get an answer about whether your food or other item may be allowed into New Zealand. We don't have everything listed in the tool but it covers the food and other items we most frequently get asked about. The tool will also tell you whether there are any weight or quantity restrictions.

Video – Welcome to Aotearoa (1:23)

Watch our in-flight biosecurity video. It reminds all international visitors about the importance of protecting Aotearoa from unwanted pests and diseases.

Welcome to Aotearoa.

Our lakes, rivers, lands and seas.

This fragile place is all we’ve got.

It’s vulnerable to pests and diseases.

That’s why we guard it, as if our way of life depends on it… Because it does. But we need your help.

Fruits, vegetables and eggs like these can’t be brought into New Zealand.

Nor can most meats, honey, cooking ingredients, herbs, and seeds or spices…

Anything made of plants or wood can carry unwanted pests or diseases that could destroy our natural environment.

Put any items you aren’t sure about in the airport amnesty bins.

Used outdoor equipment is a problem too.

If in doubt, declare it for inspection on the New Zealand Traveller Declaration website or app, or on a paper arrival card.

Or ask a biosecurity officer like me.

Because once you arrive, your bags may be x-rayed and inspected.

And if you haven’t declared, you’ll be fined $400.

As a visitor here, I’ll be asking one thing of you:

Look after it. Protect it.

Declare or dispose risk items.

Avoid a $400 fine.

Types of risk goods

Here are some examples of the kinds of items considered a potential risk to New Zealand:

• Any food – cooked, uncooked, fresh, preserved, packaged or dried.
• Animals or animal products – including meat, dairy products, fish, honey, bee products, eggs, feathers, shells, raw wool, skins, bones or insects.
• Plants or plant products – fruit, flowers, seeds, bulbs, wood, bark, leaves, nuts, vegetables, parts of plants, fungi, cane, bamboo or straw, including for religious offerings or medicinal use.
• Other biosecurity risk items –including animal medicines, herbal medicines, biological cultures, organisms, soil or water.
• Equipment used with animals, plants or water – including for gardening, beekeeping, fishing, water sport or diving activities.
• Items that have been used for outdoor or farming activities – including any footwear, tents, camping, hunting, hiking, golf or sports equipment.

• on arrival in New Zealand, your bags may be sniffed by detector dogs, x-rayed or searched.
• detailed information about the requirements for bringing goods to New Zealand is in documents called import health standards.

What happens when you declare risk items?

Some of the risk items you declare may be allowed into the country:

• if a quarantine officer at the border is satisfied your items pose no risk
• after treatment of the risk items.

However, some items may not be allowed into the country under any circumstances and may be confiscated or destroyed.

Items that require treatment are sent to private independent treatment companies. You can collect items sent for treatment at a later date.

More details about risk items

Food

Declare even the smallest amounts and ingredients for cooking.

All food items brought into New Zealand, even the smallest amounts and ingredients for cooking, need to be declared. Food items include:

• fresh fruit and vegetables
• meat
• eggs
• seafood
• dairy products
• dried mushrooms and fungi
• honey and honey products
• seeds for human consumption and for processing into food
• nuts, spices, herbs, and un-popped popcorn
• dried, cooked, or preserved fruit and vegetables
• grains and pulses
• pickles (including pickled meat and fish).

If you're importing large quantities of food items for commercial use, you'll need to follow the rules and regulations for importing those products.

Animal products

All animal products brought into New Zealand need to be inspected and may need treatment or permits. Some items will not be allowed into New Zealand.

Animal products include:

• Chinese or Asian medicine
• feathers
• eggs
• meat
• honey and honey products, including cosmetics, health supplements and medicines
• shells and clams
• ivory
• turtle shell items
• coral
• products made from snakeskin or whalebone.

Novelty items, souvenirs, and ornaments should be declared if they have any parts made from:

• animal fibres or feathers
• animals hides and skins.

Biological products of animal origin, microorganisms, and cell cultures

These products must be declared. They can contain animal dung and plant materials that may carry pests and diseases. If you are carrying any of these types of items, make sure you declare them or you can be fined.

Plants and plant products

Declare all plant material. Some types of products are prohibited.

All plant material must be declared. Items may need treatment or an import permit, and some products are prohibited. Examples of plants and plant products that must be declared include:

• dried and fresh flowers
• seeds
• plant cuttings
• items made of bamboo, cane, rattan, coconut, straw
• items made of wood, for example, drums, carvings, masks, weapons, or tools
• pine cones
• any souvenirs made from plant material – for example, corn and straw, including items stuffed with seeds and straw,
• herbal medicines, health supplements, and homeopathic remedies
• cosmetics made from plants
• religious offerings.

If you bring wood products, fruit, vegetables, other plant products, micro-organisms or laboratory specimens into New Zealand, you must comply with the requirements for importing those items.

For more information refer to the steps to importing:

• plant products (dried and preserved)
• fruit and vegetables
• forest and wood products.

Used equipment

Anything used outdoors – on farms, for hiking, camping, fishing, gardening and the like.

Used equipment, like sporting and recreational equipment, must be declared on your traveller declaration.

This type of equipment can transfer soil and plant material from other countries into New Zealand that may carry pests, diseases, and seeds – all of which can pose a threat to our environment and wildlife. Some contaminants such as viruses, bacteria and fungi are not visible and may be present on used equipment that appears clean to the naked eye.

Equipment might be inspected on arrival so it should be easy to reach in your luggage.

If you are unsure about whether or not your equipment needs inspecting – declare it.

Used equipment includes:

• all hiking and sporting footwear, including gaiters for tramping – or any footwear used outside of urban areas – which should be cleaned prior to arrival and be free of soil and seeds
• tents and any camping equipment
• all camping foods
• hunting gear, including clothing and backpacks
• any equipment used with animals such as:
  • farm footwear
  • vet supplies
  • horse riding equipment, saddles, and bridle gear
  • animal shearing equipment, including clothing used while shearing animals
  • diving equipment and wetsuits
  • waders, fishing rods, lines, hooks, flies.
    • MPI recommends you leave your felt-soled waders at home. Entry requirements are strict for this type of footwear. Plus you're not allowed to use felt-soled waders when fishing in freshwater (this is a Fish and Game Council prohibition). Felt-soled waders are likely to be seized at the border and directed for destruction, treatment, or reshipment.
    • Fishing flies are permitted entry but all non-artificial material for fly-tying must meet the conditions in the Import Health Standard for fibres.

    Find out more

    • Bringing and using fishing equipment in New Zealand – Fish and Game Council
    • Importing fibres and feathers
    • The Import Health Standard for fibres [PDF, 194 KB]

    Freshwater fishing gear must be clean and dry

    If you're bringing used freshwater fishing equipment into New Zealand, it must be clean and dry.

    If MPI officers suspect your equipment isn't completely dry (even if you cleaned it before coming), you'll have to either:

    • wait at the airport until your equipment is treated at your expense (this could take several hours)
    • arrange for collection of your equipment from a treatment facility at your expense
    • reship the equipment at your expense
    • authorise MPI to destroy the equipment.

    How you can help protect our environment

    Refer to 'Check, Clean, Dry' information for instructions on cleaning sporting and camping equipment before coming to New Zealand.
    Once in New Zealand – you can continue to protect our environment and wildlife by:

    • cleaning, checking, and drying your equipment when you move from location to location. This can help stop pests, like didymo, spreading between our rivers.
    • cleaning equipment and sticking to tracks to slow the spread of the disease that is killing our giant Kauri trees.

    Find out more

    • Download 'Check, Clean, Dry' instructions for trampers and fishers [PDF, 518 KB]
    • Learn about the 'Check, Clean, Dry' method
    • Download hygiene measures for Kauri Dieback
    • Visit the Keep Kauri Standing website