Notification on the Increase in Horses and Horse Germplasm Levy from August 2026

The New Zealand Equine Health Association (NZEHA) represents the wider equine sector at MPI and Government level. Since the Government Industry Agreement for Biosecurity Readiness and Response (GIA) was signed in 2015, there has been significant work done in the biosecurity space, especially with the development of the National Equine Identification and Traceability system (NEIT).

NEIT is now a live system with the next part of the project aimed at getting the database fully populated. We are currently working with MPI to get the microchipping and registration mandated.

Initially, the NZEHA was supported financially by its member base, but since 2020, it has been self-reliant on levies collected on the movement of horses and semen/germplasm across the border. 

The purpose of the levy is to fund the day-to-day work of the NZEHA and to build a reserve that can be called on in the event of an incursion of a new equine disease

Significant cost has been incurred in building the NEIT system, with our budget showing that we either start to call on our reserves or we increase the current levy. The regulation that describes the levy arrangements enables the NZEHA to modify the levy within set parameters. 

After due consideration, the NZEHA Committee, for the first time since the levy was enacted in 2020, is increasing levies in line with the CPI, which will take place from 1st August 2026. Visit the legislation here.

The new levy will be: $120 per horse 

                                      $1.20 per straw of frozen semen

                                      $12 per inseminating dose of fresh semen

                                      $24 per embryo

More information about NEIT can be found at neit.org.nz  

Tony Parsons

Chairman NZEHA