Cayman Customs Bill Postponed Until February

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com, London

28 January 2008

Bills primarily aimed at reorganising the coding system of goods that attract Customs duty were put off to the next meeting of the House in February.

The House adjourned last Wednesday, 23 January until Friday, 15 February.

At the Legislative Assembly last week, Financial Secretary, Kenneth Jefferson sought the postponement of the Customs Tariff Bill, 2007 - the principal bill and companion legislation; the Customs (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2007; and the Customs (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill, 2007.

The move is to allow the Customs Department to continue its discussions with local merchants regarding the contents of the bill, he told the House.

The Customs Tariff Bill primarily involves a change to the coding of dutiable commodities, not a change in import duty rates, Mr Jefferson explained.

He explained that the current law groups commodities into various categories, and that each category subsequently is assigned a numerical code. However, the bill proposes to list commodities individually, which therefore would result in each commodity having its own numerical code.

The new bill will therefore be more substantial than the existing Law, necessitating the continuation of talks between Customs and Cayman merchants, Mr Jefferson concluded.

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