Unless St Lucia reverses its decision to impose a 70 per cent duty on brewed products from Barbados, the measure can be legally in place for at least the next four years.
That’s what a CARICOM Community official told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY as debate raged here over the recent move.
“St Lucia is very much within their right to do what they are doing. Unless St Lucia decides that it will unilaterally reverse the decision to impose the 70 per cent levy, there is legally nothing Barbados can do as this regime is in place until December 31, 2018,” he official said.
And they also questioned whether Barbados had helped its own cause when the matter came up for discussion at the “relevant” CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) meeting at the end of 2012.
Research on the matter revealed that under Article 164 of the Revised Treaty Of Chaguaramas St Lucia, as a Lesser Development Country as defined in the treaty, has the lawful right to impose the surcharge which is now generating controversy.
This came into force in 2006, the CARICOM official said, adding that it was renewed at the 2012 COTED meeting, taking effect in January last year until the end of 2018.
Quizzed further on the issue, however, the official conceded that the original intent of the law might now be harming indigenous companies like Banks Holdings Limited, which is now being negatively affected by St Lucia’s decision.
“Unfortunately for companies like Banks, there are some large international beer producers which now owned breweries in the Caribbean, including in St Vincent and the Grenadines, which is a Lesser Development Country under the treaty and thereby eligible to protection under Article 164,” he noted.
“Perhaps the time has come to revisit these issues in light of such unforeseen circumstances.”
