Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

Mark Myers, president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, says the current reporting structure for the Commissioner of Customs is not working. - File

The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) is proposing that the Customs Depart-ment be overseen by a board of directors, saying the current reporting structure was ineffective.

The board, said the chamber on Tuesday, should comprise both public and private sector players, who would hold Customs accountable for running an efficient revenue collection system at the ports.

JCC president Mark Myers in a statement to the media yesterday, from the JCC's downtown Kingston-based headquarters, said the business grouping had been complaining for years about the ineffectiveness of the systems at the ports and breaches in the Customs Regulations.

Delays

The result has been delays in getting goods cleared and loss of revenue for companies, while some traders, said the JCC president, are able to beat the system and clear goods without paying the requisite duties and tariffs.

Said Myers: "We cannot over-emphasise the negative effect the action of these few traders is having on the reputation of the business community."

The JCC also committed to disciplinary action against its members if any are "found to be operating outside the law."

The Commissioner of Customs reports, by law, to the director of Tax Administration.

But in reality, said Myers, the Tax Administrator wields no authority over the commissioner, and is "a mere figurehead."

It wasn't immediately clear what reporting relationship the JCC was proposing between the board and the Commissioner of Customs, nor what powers of enforcement the board would have.

Myers believes, however, that a Board of Directors would act as a governing body to ensure, "through close monitoring", that the systems of checks and balances are allowed to work.

The JCC also called on the government to modernise or upgrade the facilities at the Customs House which it considered outdated and inadequate to deal with the daily inflow of customers.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com