BARBADOS IS MISSING out on important technical assistance because of the failure to add Customs to the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA).
The delay is also causing “significant stagnation” and “harm” to Customs administration in Barbados, says an International Monetary Fund institution based here.
This concern was raised last month by the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC).
It came during an update on CARTAC’s work in regional Customs administration during a steering committee meeting in Paramaribo, Suriname late last month.
The issue was highlighted by CARTAC Customs adviser Stephen Mendes, whose words echoed a recent IMF working paper on tax administration reforms in the Caribbean.
Barbados is one of several Caribbean countries which benefit from CARTAC’s help in various areas including Customs administration.
However, Mendes’ report to the steering committee lamented that “uncertainty continues to surround the integration of Customs into the [BRA].
“This caused postponement and cancellation of some [technical assistance] and continues to cause significant stagnation and even harm to Customs in Barbados,” the report stated.
“Some [technical assistance] to Barbados (to develop a corporate and strategic business plan and to strengthen risk management) did not take place, due to continuing uncertainty surrounding the timing of the integration of Customs into the [BRA].”
Last month, IMF senior economist Stephane Schlotterbeck also highlighted concerns about Customs’ absence from the BRA.
“The [BRA] was established in April 2014 with the merging of four departments responsible for income taxes, [value added tax], land taxes, and motor vehicle licensing. The Customs and Excise Department integration, initially planned for April, 2015, has since been delayed, and only the excise section of the department has been integrated,” Schlotterbeck noted.
“However, the integration of tax and Customs administrations has been postponed several times as a result of unsuccessful government and trade union negotiations.”
The economist said there was a Caribbean trend towards organisations like the BRA, which combined tax and customs. Barbados and Jamaica have established similar semi-autonomous entities.
“In these three countries, the creation of these semi-autonomous agencies was mainly triggered by the need to remove impediments to effective human resource management, and to foster public servants’ accountability,” the report said.
While some technical assistance had been delayed, CARTAC said that “in response to a specific need in Barbados”, it “developed a series of modules for training in core customs skills”.
“These ‘building blocks’ can be configured in different ways to provide high-quality training to meet specific needs. In Barbados, they have been configured to provide a short but intensive course for customs supervisors (and those likely to become supervisors soon), a longer course for new and recent entrants to customs, and a short course for customs guards,” Mendes reported. (SC)