THE Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) has implemented a protocol that has allowed the clearance of thousands of illegally imported used tyres from the ports.

According to Orine Henry-Blair, director of the regulatory division at the BSJ, at the end of the last quarter in 2009, there was a large build-up of used tyres at the customs department, leading to congestion at the port. This prompted Government to instruct the BSJ to allow sound tyres among the batch to come into the country.

“A protocol was put in place on what we had to do, because some of our regional counterparts like Trinidad accept used tyres, we collaborated with them and benchmarked what they did and tailored it to fit our situation. So we put a protocol in place to inspect the used tyres coming in,” Henry-Blair told reporters and editors at the Observer’s weekly Monday Exchange meeting held at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue head office in Kingston.

She said, among other things, checks on the tyres are being made for thread depth, age, carcass, and dry rotting. To date, she said, the BSJ have inspected 20,801 tyres, accepted 17,959 and rejected 2,842.

“We had a six-week period to clear the ports, we still have a few shipments coming in at this point in time,” said the BSJ regulatory division director.

BSJ executive director Noel Osbourne said used tyres from abroad are not usually permitted to enter Jamaica, with the exception of a few special cases.

“In the past, we have managed to facilitate returning residents, for example, on their own vehicle but we have never been allowing used tyres into the country for commercial purposes,” said Osborne.

But Osborne noted that the BSJ now faces a challenge in dealing with a large influx of used tyres being imported by enterprising businessmen, who he suspects deal in used parts.

“My understanding is that, because there’s nobody in Japan who is stripping a car and sorting the parts and putting them on a shelf, used parts dealers will go to Japan and buy a Toyota, say 2003 or 2004, which can’t be import into Jamaica now (because of age) but those cars are in Jamaica,” said Osborne.

“So they will go there and buy the car and then have to strip it down at their expense and sort the parts; then they decide which pieces they are going to ship into Jamaica,” continued the executive director. “But this car also has wheels and tyres on it, so they can ask (the relevant person) to dispose of it but they have to pay to do that; so why not put it in the container with the other parts and ship it to Jamaica?”

Osborne said a technical committee of the BSJ is currently working to draft new regulations to deal with tyres.

“As new challenges come up, we have to find a way to deal with it. Right now, we are trying to minimise the amount that come into the country and we are working on new regulations to control it,” he said.