Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has appointed five organisations to carry out border inspections for vehicles coming to New Zealand after a robust process to lift the capability of the sector.

The five organisations – Automotive Technologies Ltd, Bordercheck, New Zealand Biosecurity Services, JEVIC NZ and Independent Verification Services – took up their new appointments on Thursday.

This follows a successful entry certification appointment process for used light vehicles earlier this year.

The role of a border inspection organisation is to confirm the vehicles that require a border inspection and identify damage to vehicles that needs to be flagged for further inspection at the compliance inspection. This is particularly important for used vehicles that are arriving from overseas.

Sue Hardiman, Senior Manager Vehicle and Driver Licensing, says the appointment of the five organisations is another step forward from a review of the sector completed in 2019.

'This is another piece completed as part of a wider project to strengthen our regulatory oversight of border inspection activities,” says Sue.

'To ensure imported vehicles are safe, the inspection functions need to be rigorous and protected from inappropriate influence. The organisations we have appointed have demonstrated through the application process that they are highly competent organisations and have shown strength in inspection, information, quality assurance and managing conflicts of interest.

'We expect high professional standards at all times, particularly with protecting the independence and impartiality of inspections. We also expect the organisations to be expert and vigilant in self-monitoring their inspection activities.

'As with the used light vehicle entry certification process, we worked with the applicants to make sure the successful applicants added to a robust model.

'This allowed us to get a complete picture of their operations to give Waka Kotahi confidence in their ability to carry out their duties and, subsequently, contribute to a safer land transport system in New Zealand.”

Waka Kotahi will maintain oversight of the new border inspection appointees through a new border inspection and entry certification compliance team that was created last year.

Three of the appointed organisations – Automotive Technologies Ltd, Bordercheck and JEVIC – are based in Japan, due to the large number of vehicles imported to New Zealand from Japan. New Zealand Biosecurity Services and Independent Verification Services are based in New Zealand.