– to curb revenue leakage, senior CARICOM official suggests

ASSISTANT Secretary-General of the Trade and Economic Integration Directorate of the CARICOM Secretariat, Joseph Cox, believes that customs officials should look at introducing quantitative limits on cash at borders.

This, he suggested, can curb leakage of revenues which is a serious matter affecting CARICOM member states.

Cox suggested the option to senior customs officials from CARICOM member states at the launch of the final evaluation of the regional Single Administrative Document (SAD) and Capacity Building on Customs Valuation three-day workshop held at the CARICOM Secretariat on Tuesday.

“I suggest that one of the areas you look at is for member states to do further monitoring of cash at borders… a solution to this is to look at the introduction of quantitative limits on cash that is being used at the border, because far too much informalities obtain at that level,” he said.

He referred to a recent observation which revealed that almost $800 million in cash was passing through some borders every day, which translated to a courier charge and so forth of $56 million a week.

“With that amount of cash you might run into some challenges; I urge as we look at this, SAD, we spare a few moments and look at some of the other issues, because it might help us,” said Cox.

Although his suggestion was not an initial topic for discussion at the workshop, it did form part of CARICOM’s expectation to help customs officials develop a clearer understanding of how to implement policy guidelines that are effective at reducing revenue leakage.
In addition to cash at borders, he said customs authorities across the Region suggested that non-compliance among traders to declare true and correct values is the single biggest cause of revenue leakage, with a conservative estimate of 20 per cent projected revenue being lost every year.

The assistant secretary-general reminded participants that the trading environment will continue to evolve as the community seeks to deepen the integration process. Therefore, trade facilitation should be shifted to a high level of priority on the regional trade agenda.

HARMONISED APPROACHES
In keeping with CARICOM’s vision of full economic integration and its obligation under the CARIFORUM- European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreement, Cox believes that it is critical to adopt harmonised approaches for conducting trade across borders.
Participants were advised that Article 95 of the revised treaty of Chaguaramas provides a legal ground for regional customs administrations to apply harmonised laws, procedures and best practices which will result in increased predictability with intra-regional movement of goods.

CARICOM has taken its cue from the “going into effect” of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (FTA) for which member states have started finalising their category B and C commitments, said Cox said.

“Their approval of the model Harmonised Customs Bill and Regulations in September 2016, and advanced work in developing a CARICOM Customs Procedure Manual, along with the signing last month of a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Customs Organisation, CARICOM, and by extension CARIFORUM has opened doors for the future landscape of trade,” the assistant secretary-general explained, adding that SAD, which will be evaluated at the workshop, is an integral part of their advancement.
The regional workshop which started on Tuesday is aimed at building capacity in CARIFORUM states and is part of a project under the ACP TradeCom II programme which is funded by the EU. It is being facilitated by Paul Hilaire, team leader, and Martin Wilde, customs expert.

Adam Vesinefski, First Secretary, Trade Affairs Manager of the European Union Delegation to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS and CARICOM/CARIFORUM, said SAD is a crucial step to achieving a real- life single common market economy that enhances the Region’s attractiveness not only to the EU, but other state partners.