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Yesterday I was pleased to retable the Act to Replace the Customs Act. At over 800 pages, including 600 pages of schedules, it represents a huge volume of work already.
As such, I would like to recognize the good people at the MOFPS, @jacustoms, the A.G. Chambers, the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Legislative Com. of Cabinet as well as industry stakeholders & others incl consultants who all played a role in getting to this stage.
For background: The legislative framework on which current customs procedures are based dates back to the 1940s!
There have been amendments but the current framework remains, frankly speaking, out of date. As we all know or suspect, it no longer suits the needs of a small, open, economy that seeks to facilitate investment and economic activity and to take advantage of today’s opportunities.
Jamaica is an open economy. Trade in visible goods (ie imports and exports of goods) and invisible goods (ie services eg tourism) account for more than 70% of GDP! These activities all interact with customs at some point.
By definition, therefore, the efficiency of Customs procedures is of outsized importance to the Jamaican economy.
The new Customs Act, once passed, will allow for increased transparency, better predictability, faster clearance times through better facilitation, advanced rulings, improved dispute resolution with processes to administratively appeal customs decisions.
In addition, the new Customs Act will better facilitate trade and customer service within international best practices and will allow for certain economic activities, on which a modern logistics industry depends, that are either impossible now, or very difficult.
Given the complexity and scope the Bill will be again referred to a Joint Select Committee of Parliament for review where the public will be able to make contributions on the Bill.
In light of the increasing relevance and importance of cross-border e-commerce, many people have concerns about the level of existing duty free threshold limits. I would like to give the assurance that these concerns will be considered under the reform exercise.
