Damion Mitchell and Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporters
STIFFER PENALTIES, among them a $100,000 fine, are coming for importers who smuggle plants and produce into the island.
Carol Thomas, chief plant quarantine officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, said yesterday that the ministry was in the process of enacting regulations it hopes to see in effect by year end.
Ms. Thomas told The Gleaner that the current fine for such breaches is less than $3,000. She said those fines do not serve as an adequate deterrent to persons illegally importing plants or produce.
MORE TEETH
"We have just now completed a set of regulations which will increase or put a little more teeth in it so that persons who bring in things illegally will be able to feel it," she said.
Ms. Thomas was speaking to The Gleaner shortly after a ceremony to officially introduce three procedure manuals for the Agriculture Ministry's Plant Quarantine and Inspection Division, at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston.
According to Ms. Thomas, inspection officers from the Plant Quarantine Division have been working to minimise the incidents of plants and plant products being smuggled. She said smuggled plant materials are identified at least once a week in commercial shipments. This could be more, but the division is working with a limited number of plant quarantine inspectors.
In the meantime, Ms. Thomas said the process to allow for the imposition of increased penalties for smuggling plant and plant products is far advanced.
FINAL DRAFT RECEIVED
She said the final draft of the regulations have been received and are awaiting the signature of Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke before being gazetted.
The procedure manuals for the Plant Quarantine and Inspection Division, which were developed at a cost of US$75,000, is aimed at strengthening and standardising various processes at the division. They also demand more accountability from inspectors of the unit, especially as they would facilitate more audits of the unit's activities. The manuals also allow for better tracking of imports, importers and exporters and facilitates some exporters getting pre-clearance to export based on new systems which allow some inspection to take place in the field. Ms. Thomas said a database will soon be established to facilitate this process, which also aims to strengthen Jamaica's adherence to international standards.
Meanwhile Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke has described the introduction of the Procedure Manuals for the Division as timely.
