BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, July 14th, 2011(Customs PRO) - 17 Customs Officers from across the federation have received comprehensive trade related training from the CARICOM Secretariat in a CSME Technical Assistance Workshop which has been designed to better prepare local Trade and Customs Officials to facilitate the flow of goods across region.
Mr. Bernard Black, Senior Project Officer for Customs and Trade Policy, and Mrs. Desiree Fields-Ridley, Advisor for Single Market and Sectoral Programmes both of the CARICOM Secretariat facilitated the three day workshop (July 13 -15, 2011) at the Marriott Resort.
The stated objectives of the workshop include the desire to assist member states of the Caribbean Community to realign procedures in trade to allow each territory to benefit from the full extent of the CSME.
The workshop has been designed to cover a broad range of topics including the Common External Tariff (CET) Tariff Structure and Rate Structure, Suspension of the CET as laid out in Article 83 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC), rules of origin of goods and the certification and verification of the origin of goods within CARICOM and Organs of the Community, with special attention on the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).
In an interview with Public Relations Unit of the Customs Department, Mr. Black outlined the importance of the proper application of the rules of origin of goods manufactured in the region. Black said that a document known as the Certificate of Origin which validates the goods having been manufactured in the exporting country is a key component to intra-regional trade.
At this point, the Customs and Excise Department will be the body which issues Certificates of Origin for goods manufactured in St. Kitts and Nevis and will also verify the certificates issued for goods imported into the federation that originate from other member states.
The Workshop also highlights the rules that allow for the suspension of Common External Tariff which is an agreed rate of duties applied to specific goods originating outside the Caribbean Community.
The Workshop Material guides course participants through Article 83 of the RTC which outlines that member states can apply to the Secretary General of CARICOM and or COTED to grant this waiver.
The Workshop also outlined that Article 83 is due to be revised to expand the conditions for member states to seek suspensions of the CET to be expanded from the present three conditions, namely: the goods are not produced in the region, there is a scarcity of the goods in the region or the quality of product is below standard.
Assistant Comptroller of Customs with responsibility for Training, Mr. Theodore Brown hailed the CARICOM led workshop as instrumental to the department’s role in trade facilitation.
“As growth in regional trade continues to be a major goal of our governments and peoples, the training of our officers to efficiently facilitate trade is necessary,” Brown said.
This workshop is the third in a series which is planned to cover all member states. There have already been workshops in Haiti in February and Jamaica in June with plans to visit Belize in September.
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