THE Customs (Amendment of Schedules) Bill 2019, intended to replace all the Schedules to the Customs Act, Chapter 82:01, was passed in the National Assembly on Wednesday as Guyana moves toward be compliant with international obligations.

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, explained that the updated schedules will reflect the current harmonised commodity description and coding system referred to as the harmonised system or HS.

He said the HS is a multipurpose six-digit international commodity classification system used by governments, international organisations and the private sector as a basis for customs tariffs, international trade statistics, freight rates and production statistics.

It is applied worldwide by over 180 countries which, together, roughly represent 98 per cent of goods in international trade.

He said the legislation is amended every five years to ensure trade patterns, technology, environmental issues, clarifications of texts and simplification to enforce the multi-purpose nature of literature by taking into account of the various users.

The finance minister further added that the HS 2007 version was implemented in Guyana in 2011 and has been in use since then, and the 2012 version was never implemented in Guyana as was recommended by the border customs organisation.

“Now we have moved to the 2017 version which is the current version that will ensure that Guyana is compliant to its obligations to the World Customs Organisation and to also ensure a more modern and consistent legislation in trade to protect Guyana’s revenues,” Minister Jordon said.

He said the HS 2017 edition introduces regulations to control dangerous chemicals and organic pollutants, while new products are now classified under new headings.
“Advances in technology are also included in the amendments, like LED lamps, multicomponent integrated circuits, and hybrid vehicles,” he said.

He said the amendments are vast and varied in keeping with modernised systems.