By Denise Clarke, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
A BLUNDER in the publication of tariff rates in the Jamaica Gazette has resulted in the imposition of duties of up to a 100 per cent on some consumer items, including refined sugar and some pharmaceuticals.
The error, which was contained in the Jamaica Gazette Supplement Proclamation PRR348A number 114A issued on December 18, 2003, resulted in importers and custom brokers being charged duties more than twice the correct rates in some instances.
However, the President of the Custom Brokers' Association of Jamaica, Richard Minott, said the Ministry of Finance acknowledged the error, but has been slow to correct it.
"We have been trying to force the Ministry of Finance to correct the legal document in which those errors are stated," said Mr. Minott.
"If you go to the airport to clear your goods, the officer there might knowingly or unknowingly demand that the duty (in the Gazette) be paid because it is stated in the legal document."
Some of the affected items include refined sugar, for which 100 per cent duty is being charged, when the correct duty is 40 per cent.
The mix-up also resulted in the imposition of a 15 per cent duty on a number of prescription and over-the-counter drugs that were previously zero-rated.
Other items such as medicated and other soaps, surgical gloves and cake mixes were also attracting higher than the prescribed duty.
PROBLEM RECTIFIED
Communications personnel at the Finance Ministry could not immediately comment on the matter. However, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Grace Allen-Young, told The Gleaner that the problem, as it relates to pharmaceuticals, had been rectified.
"What happened is that pharmaceuticals were inadvertently grouped with some other items which made them dutiable, but I have since learnt that it was an error which has been corrected," Mrs. Allen-Young said.
Mr. Minott noted, however, that although the on-line systems had been updated with the correct tariff rates, the actual rates needed to be put in writing.
"The software has been rectified but the book (Jamaica Gazette), which is the legal document, has not been rectified," said Mr. Minott. "For instance, chapters 84 and 85 are in total disarray; it's hard to make head or tail of it."
The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) is also involved in discussions with the Finance Ministry, after some of its members complained that they were being charged excessive duties at the ports.
Chairman of the Chamber's Customs, Tariffs and Port Users Committee, Lazarus Bucknor, said the issue is being clarified.
"After the reclassification went into print something went wrong, and some items that were not dutiable suddenly became dutiable, so having recognised this they are seeking to address it," said Mr. Bucknor.
The Government had attempted to impose General Consumption Tax (GCT) on prescription items and certain medical supplies during the 2003/2004 budget presentation last April, but backed down after strong opposition from the health sector.
