FINANCE Minister Dr Peter Phillips has shot down public complaints of stakeholders in the shipping and logistics Industry about excessive Customs fees and penalties, which they say the proposed changes to the Customs Act will only make worse.

Opening the first meeting of the Joint Select Committee of the House, which was set up to review the changes to the legislation, Dr Phillips said yesterday that, despite the public focus on the penalties in the Bill, these are not central to the legislation.

The finance minister, who chairs the committee, argued that the ultimate aim of the Bill is trade facilitation, but that this must match up with the necessary efficiencies and revenue needs of the Customs agency. “This is not a revenue measure, but revenues are nevertheless necessary,” he told the meeting at Gordon House, where legislators spent less than half an hour laying down the guidelines for the deliberations that are to come.

“There are two sets of trends that are apparent in the global community — one, which is the dominant tendency among the most successful Customs jurisdictions, sees a partnership between freer movement, alongside high penalties, for those in breach, which essentially says that those in conformity have nothing to fear from the penalty regime…The other approach is to have lots of checks and balances. We will have to form our judgments as to how we want to proceed as a country,” Dr Phillips said.

The members agreed to a September 21 deadline to hear the submissions of stakeholders, but said the discussions would not be delayed to await the submission of all views, and would commence in two weeks, with whatever is on the table at that time.

“Full opportunity will be provided to all the stakeholders. We are of open mind, and we want to encourage stakeholders to participate. We want to be in a position to move expeditiously with the amendments [and] we are prepared to accommodate anything that, in the judgement of the committee collectively, will facilitate the ultimate objective, which is trade facilitation and the emergence of a competitive economic environment,” said Phillips.

Submissions have already been made by the Trade Board, the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association, the Shipping Association of Jamaica, the Automobile Dealers Association, and the World Bank. The Customs Brokers Association, the Jamaica Employers’ Association, and the Small Business Association will be invited to make submissions.

The deliberations are starting amidst cries from some industry players that the Bill is nothing more than a burdensome revenue measure, aggravated by a cumbersome system, which already extracts as much revenue as is possible from them.