PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — A High Court judge has ordered the Trinidad and Tobago government to pay an estimated TT$70,000 in compensation to an international tobacco distributor with a free zone designation, after the business had been wrongly shut down for a month by the Ministry of Health in 2023.

In addition, Justice Frank Seepersad also ordered the state to pay the company’s legal costs as he upheld the lawsuit filed by North American Trading Company Limited against the Ministry of Health and the Office of the Attorney General.

In delivering his ruling, Seepersad called on statutory bodies to be cautious when discharging their mandates.

“It is troubling as instances of overreach are frequently coming before the courts but this court will not tolerate the unauthorised, improper or unreasonable exercise of power which curtails or restricts the rights of citizens,” he said.

North American Trading Company Limited had initially contended that it suffered almost US$1 million in losses due to the closure, but Seepersad rejected the claim based on its failure to adduce evidence to buttress its claim.

The company, which is located at the Intercontinental Business Park, Free Zone Complex, in D’Abadie, along the east-west corridor, has been operating here for nearly 20 years after registering with the Trinidad and Tobago Free Zones Company Limited under the Free Zone Act.

Under the legislation, registered and approved companies were given specific tax concessions and exemptions. The company claimed that it imports tobacco products from international manufacturers and stores them in its local warehouse before exporting them to retailers in the Caribbean and Latin America. It noted that it does not retail or distribute its products locally.

In its court documents, the company claimed that in January 2022, it was informed of the operationalisation of a new special economic zone regime, which was introduced under then-recently proclaimed legislation.

In November 2022, customs and police officers conducted a raid on the company without a warrant. In February 2023, the company was contacted by the ministry’s Tobacco Control Unit (TCU) and informed that it could not continue to operate without licenses under the Tobacco Control Act.

Almost a month later, the ministry rescinded its decision based on advice from the Attorney General’s Office and the company claimed that it lost approximately US$979,714 by the decision as it was forced to stop its planned imports and exports.

In his ruling, Seepersad said the company’s case was not rendered academic when the ministry reversed its position and that the ministry was wrong to take the initial decision it took as the provisions of the Tobacco Control Act did not apply to free zones.

“This court holds the firm view that there was no power under the Tobacco Control Act which enabled, authorised or allowed the TCU to exercise any statutory power within the Free Zone,” he said.

The judge said that the decision was illegal and unreasonable.

“Evidently, the TCU misunderstood and/or misapplied the law having obtained inaccurate legal advice and its action imposed unreasonable and unjustified constraints upon the Claimant’s operations.”

While the judge declined to award compensation for the losses the company claimed it suffered, he did order TT$40,000 in damages for the breach of its constitutional right to equality before the law and protection of the law.

He also ordered TT$30,000 in vindicatory damages, based on the conduct of the ministry in acting on a misapprehension and the police officers in conducting a search without a warrant.