by Kamala Jno. Baptiste-Aaron and Pearl Fontaine
Government Information Service
By the time Parliament ended on the night of Tuesday 28th, September, 2010, at least four (4) bills had been passed and approval for supplementary estimates for expenditure had been granted. Two resolutions and one motion were also read in the house by the end of Tuesday’s session.
The members of the House of Assembly successfully passed a bill for an act to revise and amend the law relating to the operations of the customs department as well as a bill for an act to amend the immigration and passport act. The House of Assembly also approved for expenditure supplementary estimates of over fifty-eight million EC dollars (XCD$58 000 000.00).
Hon. Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit told National Focus immediately following the adjournment of parliament Tuesday night that the customs act sought, to a very great extent, to respond positively to the years of complaints by the private sector.
“What we are doing at the customs is to respond to the concerns of the private sector in large where people have criticised customs, not only in Dominica, but throughout the world, that they are very tardy, their goods stay in bond for a very long time. It is added to the cost of doing business and therefore, it is adding to the cost of the goods on the selves to the people. We are now placing greater confidence and trust in the persons who do business with the port because before we always viewed the private sector in a sense those persons doing trading with the port with some suspicion. What we are doing right now is placing our total trust in them by facilitating the clearance of the goods on the port. The process has in fact, started. We have ASYCUDA World in place for the last several months. With this Act, it has also responded to the concerns not only to the private sector and those people who do business with the port, but with the brokers, the traffic clerk, et cetera and also the Customs Department themselves.”
 Hon. Prime Minister,
Roosevelt Skerrit
In the meantime, Prime Minister Skerrit says the more than 58 million EC dollars (XCD$58 000 000.00) approved by the house for expenditure in the supplementary estimates will create a new allowance for Dominica to become more self-reliant, through a more buoyant economy.
“Now that money was made available in 2010, months of April, May and June and once can appreciate what fifty-eight million dollars (XCD$58 000 000.00) was able to do in the economy of Dominica. A very interesting point is that we have seen an increase in the allocation coming from local resources and loans which means that the economy continues to do much better. While the economy continues to do much better, we are able to rely more on ourselves for our own economic and social development. It is a very important factor and when you look at the details in the schedule you will see the specific areas that we have gone through in terms of agriculture, in terms of health, in terms of education, infrastructure and so on.”
Hon. Minister for Tourism and Legal Affairs, Ian Douglas, spoke about the importance of the new customs legislation. He said there is a need to improve the climate of doing business in Dominica and customs is the gateway to exposing the country to greater investments.
 Hon. Minister for Tourism
and Legal Affairs, Ian Douglas
“First of all, we had the Customs Bill which really brings about the modernisation of the Customs Department. Of course, you know that there has been frequent and recent talk about AYSCUDA World coming in right now and with all the electronic transactions that goes on with shipping and importation, export and stuff right now. The need for the Customs Department to modernise their services and upgrade and move with the times and get electronically savvy was needed but for that to happen, you needed pieces of legislation to make that happen to bring that into being.”
Tangible evidence of the work to revamp the customs department is already in effect. The new changes have increased efficiency. In fact, documents can be filed in advance of shipments arriving in Dominica.
Minister Douglas explains how easy the process has become.
“And it is very easy, because right now, you, the importer and the persons in the private sector wishing to do business with the customs can literally seat in their offices, log onto their computers and fill out the customs declaration and email them to the customs. The broker can do the same, the shippers of goods into Dominica can fill out all the customs declarations online and the customs will have them literally in seconds, electronically. Therefore, when importers come to the Customs Department physically to clear their goods, all the information from the ship to the brokers to the agents then back to customs would have already been there and that is what that modern piece of legislation does for the Customs Department.”
He went on to say that although the bill for an act to revise and amend the law relating to the customs department came to parliament in the name of the Finance Minister, strides taken to update and improve the department will have great impact on his Ministry.
According to Hon. Douglas, by way of this new customs legislation, investors and business men who are considering Dominica as an option can now count on being accommodated in an efficient manner.
The Better Business Bureau, in the ease of doing business ranked Dominica eighty-three (83) out of one hundred and eighty three economies (183) in 2010.
With the transformation of the customs department, Hon. Douglas is optimistic that Dominica would now be ranked differently if the Better Business Bureau were to return here today.
“I would invite them right now to come and do an audit and give us a new rating, because I am sure with this new piece of customs legislation, would, in fact, and I think it is one of the first in the region, we have really been proactive in drafting our legislation and really taking it to Parliament. I am sure that some other countries in the region are looking at this piece of legislation and would really take a leaf out of Dominica’s book. Therefore, Dominica is really a forerunner and a model as far as that is concerned.” |
