Donville_Inniss
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados says it will launch an immediate investigation into allegations that some Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries were flouting regional trading regulations by placing misleading labels on products and passing them off as being produced within the 15-member grouping.
Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss, who toured a manufacturing plant here on Wednesday, said that Bridgetown had been made aware of the concerns regarding the false labelling and hinted that he would raise the issue during his visit to Trinidad and Tobago next month.
“We have heard he complaints that labels for example may be misleading or erroneous and I think we are duty bound as a government, as the competent authority to do investigations to ensure that the items entering our port are made where they said they are being made and I give the assurance this is a matter we will take up immediately with the competent authorities,” Inniss said.
He said the bigger issue is one of principle to ensure that Barbados does the necessary surveillance to ensure that it receives the necessary taxes paid with regards to the important of those products which he did not identify.
He said the investigation was also necessary to ensure that “local manufacturers are not disadvantaged because of any shenanigan on the part of others”.
All goods which meet the CARICOM rules of origin are traded duty-free throughout the region. Non-CARICOM goods have a rate structure of 0-20 per cent applied to them.
