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Barbados is using a tariff code that is over 10 years old.

Acknowledging that the situation is not ideal, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Christopher Sinckler, has announced that a new code will be going to Parliament soon and is expected to be in place before the end of the year. However, the Minister admitted that the code which they intend to submit will still not be up to date – it is a 2012 tariff code.

He told those attending a meeting of the Barbados Customs Brokers and Clerks Association at the Barbados Small Business Centre yesterday morning, that he knows the published tariff code currently being used, a hybrid of the 2004 and 2007 codes, is “severely challenged” and he said the fact that this is still being used is “absolutely unacceptable”.

“I don’t have to go through all of the challenges because you deal with it on a daily basis. The rest of the world I understand has gone to the tariff code 2017, and we are still some way down,” he said.

Sinckler, who is trained in trade policy, noted that it poses a challenge to doing business, as customs brokers and clerks could be inputting codes into the system which are not recognised. By law right now, he explained, the customs officers can only recognise the information as it relates to the 2007 code, which was published in 2009.

“The law is inconsistent with the practice and therefore it creates a conflict, because your client may end up having to pay a higher rate for whatever goods they are importing,” he indicated.

Sinckler’s comments came as he went on to reveal that only last Friday, he met with the staff of the Customs Department working on the 2012 code, and was informed that comments have been received and are at present with the Comptroller of Customs. He disclosed that those comments are to go this week to the Chief Parliamentary Counsel’s Office, which is already working on the document and is just waiting on the comments from Customs.

“Those will be plugged in and we will sign off on 2012, which at least gets us to EPA compliant status and then as we are doing that, we will work on getting the 2017 done as well… All the other elements are in place,” he indicated. (JRT)