The Jamaican government says there will be an increase in two major thresholds at the Jamaica Customs Agency starting the next finance year, which begins on April 1, 2024.
At the Jamaica Labour Party’s 80th annual conference on Sunday, Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke announced that the duty-free threshold for personal items imported into Jamaica will move from US$50 to US$100 come April.
The threshold for Jamaicans returning with goods bought abroad will move to US$1000, up from $500, come April.
Dr. Clarke said this is part of the government’s plan to create “a modern and efficient” Customs agency.
“When that Bill is passed, we’re gonna reduce the bureaucracy at the airports, we’re gonna reduce the bureaucracy at our ports,” Clarke said.
New Customs Act tabled in Parliament
A reform of the Jamaica Customs Agency and new legislation has been a promise of the government since the last general elections in September 2020.
The government introduced the Customs Act 2020, as a replacement for the current 1941 law, to modernize customs practices and procedures to efficiently facilitate international trade.
The new Customs Act has already been tabled in Parliament, with expectations that the debate on the law should begin before year-end.
The reform will include the introduction of a canine division, body cameras, contactless processing for non-commercial imports, single-window digital document processing, and digital immigration processing.
Dr. Clarke explained that the intent is to pass the Act at the same time as the relevant regulations.
“The Customs Act spent, maybe, 18 months in Joint Select Committee. The report was tabled and the Bill has been tabled; but we did make a promise to stakeholders that we would not pass the Bill before the regulations were completed.
“The regulations are being worked on and there are some intergovernmental issues that need to be resolved. But as soon as they are resolved, we intend to pass both the regulations and the new Customs Bill,” he indicated.
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