Guyana Calls for Enforcement of CARICOM Tariff Rules

The Guyana government last week protested the lack of enforcement for CARICOM trade rules saying that the practice by some states was harming its domestic agricultural sector.

Trade Minister Clement Rohee said he has lodged a protest with the CARICOM Secretariat and is proposing that affected countries be compensated. The said if the practice was allowed to continue it would erode the working of the CSME and harm development in the sub-region.

The CARICOM Secretariat and its key body governing trade, the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) has been formally advised of the Ministers dissatisfaction with the breaches of rules in the application of the Common External Tariff (CET).

Mr. Rohee comments may have been prompted by a recent report that several CARICOM Member states had failed to apply the agreed Common External Tariff (CET) on rice imported extra regionally into their countries.

The report noted that based on data compiled by the CARICOM Secretariat for the period January to June 2005, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Grenada and Jamaica have not submitted reports on their trade in rice in spite of reminders. Those that did not pay the CET at all or in full are Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

Apart from internal taxes, member states are required to apply the CET to imports from extra-regional sources, except where a suspension of the CET has been approved by COTED or the Secretary General.

On the agenda of the high level meeting of government leaders and trade ministers were important issues pertaining to the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), Mr. Rohee said that a number of member states were now fully on board but there remains in existence a number of anomalies and trade practices that are clearly inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the project. He made reference to the payment of the CET agreed to by member states.