THE Jamaica Customs Department says it has pushed back, until January, a 30 per cent increase on the fee to clear barrels containing personal effects.

The announcement came yesterday, a day after the new $6,500 flat rate came into effect, amidst much outrage. It represented a $1,500 addition to the old fee of $5,000 per barrel the department had imposed in late 2009.

“Yes, we are delaying the new fees for now, but it will be applicable on January 2,” Dania Beckford, the department’s director of public relations and information, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

At the centre of the outrage were the facts that notice of the increase came only a day before it was implemented and that it came only a week after hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans suffered great losses to Hurricane Sandy.

Hours after the new fee was announced, Opposition Spokesperson on Finance Audley Shaw described it as a “tax on recovery” and called for an immediate rollback or a delay.