THE National Assembly on Thursday confirmed the Customs Amendment Order, historically making Guyana the first nation within CARICOM to meet the requirements for the Economic Partnership Agreement. The legislation will allow  the phasing out of customs duties on a number of imports over time.
Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni  Singh piloted through the House the Customs Duties Amendment Order 2011, which he made last January 14, and caused to be gazetted on January 15.
He said the Order was necessary after negotiations between the CARIFORUM countries and the European Union (EU), which were concluded on December 16, 2007.
Singh said that under the terms of that agreement, CARIFORUM negotiated a three-year moratorium, from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2010, before effecting entry into force of the tariff liberalisation under the EPA.
The upshot of that agreement, he said, is that “CARIFORUM countries are scheduled to commence liberalisation under the schedule agreed from January 2011.” 
Still on the subject, Singh told the House:
“As I indicated in the budget speech, Guyana’s reservations, as they relate to this agreement, were widely ventilated and are well known and, in fact, led to the inclusion, in the agreement, of a clause that requires  mandatory reviews.
“Suffice it to say that we have now proceeded, in accordance with that agreement, to prepare the necessary tariff adjustment schedule under which adjustments, in summary 70 per cent of our import tariff lines from the European Union are excluded from liberalisation. Sixty per cent of our import tariff lines will be liberalised immediately, that is to say, from the effective date of this order and the remaining 23 per cent of imports will have their duties phased out over five to 25 years.”
The Minister said that in the approved order, there is reference to the phasing of the tariff adjustments and the table giving the timeframe for phasing of the duties.
“Guyana now has the distinction of being the first CARIFORUM country to have taken the necessary legislative steps to implement the EPA,” he pointed out.
Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) did not speak on the matter.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, several weeks ago, said that simulations came to the Cabinet about the revenue loss that Guyana will suffer because of the movement in tariffs, in compliance with the EPA, and these seemed manageable.
He said he asked for a simulation to be done for trade diversion, adding: “We feel we can handle its impact.”     

Strengthen ties
The EU and countries of the Caribbean Region, in October 2008, signed the EPA, which was meant to strengthen ties between the two regions and promote regional integration in the Caribbean. The EU had called it the first, genuinely, comprehensive North-South trade and development agreement in the global economy.
Guyana, however, ratified the agreement five days after the other countries of the region because of reservations about various issues, namely, the concern that it will set this country and the region back economically, rather than propel them forward into regional integration. Because of these concerns, Guyana ensured it secured a pre-condition agreement with the EU for the Treaty of Chaguaramas to take precedence over the EPA in matters of implementation and regional integration. The agreement prior to full commitment also had within it an understanding that the EPA would be reviewed every five years.
The EPA includes a package of measures to stimulate trade, investment and innovation and promote sustainable development, build a regional market among Caribbean countries and help eliminate poverty.
Giving a background to the deal, the EU, in a briefing paper, said, for more than 30 years, trade between Europe and the Caribbean has been based, largely, on preferences, special tariff rates for selected goods.
“Unfortunately, these arrangements have not helped Caribbean economies diversify or strengthen their industries – the Caribbean exports less now than it did twenty years ago and receives lower prices for those exports. Dependence on preferences is not a sustainable long- term strategy for the region,” the brief said.
Because the EU, unilaterally, extended preferences to the Caribbean in a way that discriminates between Caribbean developing countries and developing countries elsewhere in the world, the arrangements that the EPA replaces were not in conformity with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
In 2001, WTO members gave the EU and the Caribbean seven years to negotiate a new agreement that conformed to WTO rules. That agreement is the EPA and, because of it, trade relations are now safe against legal challenge, at the WTO, by other developing countries, the EU confirmed.