“The loss of revenues (customs duties) compromises Government’s ability to fund basic public goods like health-care and education. We must all play our part pay our fair share and educate the public on the importance of paying taxes, including duties on goods purchased”
The St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture reconvened its Getting Down To Business Series on Wednesday 16th January 2019, where the bothersome issue of the Duty Free Liquor Regimes was the topic.
The Customs and Excise Department started by thanking the Chamber for hosting this important meeting as the Department wished to encourage Duty Fee Shop Operators to abide by the laws and terms of conditions of the license. It was noted that the cost to a business of Customs being forced to carry out a full-fledged investigation was exceedingly high and would in many cases lead to the collapse of the Operator’s Business and there was no desire by Customs for this type of action to be initiated.
In sharing updates on progress made on actionable items from the last meeting held in 2018, it was noted that:
• The Customs and Excise Department is set, at the Chamber’s request, to provide the agreed support to vendors of Duty-Free consumables (including Liquor), by delivering duty-free items to passengers at the island’s two Airports, on the condition that the Operators bring the goods to the airports. This service will be provided by the Customs Department for no more than eight months. This period will allow the Duty-Free Shopkeepers to put in place their own arrangements.
• The Customs and Excise Department will continue strengthening their monitoring of Duty-Free Operations.
• The development of a Warehouse Inventory Control System remains high on the Customs and Excise Departments’ agenda.
• The Ministry of Finance has commenced research work on the trends in the duty-free liquor sector and the related trends in associated Government revenue. All indications is that the revenue loss is significant.
• The number of approved Duty Free Shops continues to increase, however, there has not been a commensurate increase in the number of Customs Officers available to monitor and regulate these establishments.
The Chamber thus agreed to work with members to facilitate the transition to meeting the requirement that all items sold by Duty-Free Shop be delivered to the Port of Departure and the Chamber will work with members and the Government in sensitizing the public and firms to the importance of following the law that Duty-Free purchases are to be exported out of St. Lucia.
The Meeting agreed that continued close collaboration is required among the agencies involved in this process and as such agreed to meet more frequently to take action, make recommendations and move more decisively to resolve the issues affecting the Duty-Free Liquor Regime.
