The Brazilians have promised to study the draft and to provide a response, the Home Affairs Ministry said in a press release yesterday.
The Guyana/Brazil Cross Border Protocol on Immigration, Movement of Private Motor Vehicles and Customs procedures was handed over at the meeting of the Commission for the Evaluation of Implementation of the Guyana-Brazil International Road Transport Agreement (IRTA) which was held in Boa Vista on November 13, the release from the Home Affairs Ministry said.
The document was presented under the provision of Article 19 of the IRTA. The agreement, which was signed on February 7, 2003, serves as the legal instrument that regularizes the transport of passengers and goods by road between the two countries. It also sets out the basic principles of “reciprocity capable of integrating and complementing their legitimate national interests.” The local authority for implementing this agreement is the Home Affairs Ministry. Guyana’s proposal will facilitate the movement of private motor vehicles between the two countries, and define the cross border immigration and customs procedures that should be associated with this class of transport. The issue of cross border movement of private motor vehicles has not been covered either by the IRTA or the Agreement to establish the Special Border Transport Regime, the Home Affairs Ministry said.
The release also noted that “Guyana had previously through its diplomatic channels, transmitted to the Brazilian IRTA Authority specimen signatures of Guyanese customs officials who are authorized to sign documents concerned with the transport of goods and passengers under the IRTA.” Guyana requested the Brazilian side to provide a similar list of signatures. The matter will be concluded through diplomatic channels, the release said. According to the Home Affairs Ministry, “Guyana had previously sent through diplomatic channels a draft of the C72 Customs Declaration Form, prepared in both English and Portuguese languages, for consideration by the Brazilian Customs authority but did not receive a response.” This matter will also be concluded through diplomatic channels, the Ministry noted.
At the meeting, Guyana also sought clarification on whether vehicles ten years and older are not insured in Brazil. According to the Agency for Road Transport this was the policy of some insurance companies based on the theory that the real value of a motor vehicle depreciates considerably over the ten year period, far below the value of average insurance coverage. However, other insurance companies do not employ the ten- year manufacture date as a basis for insuring motor vehicles. Guyana is to be provided with a list of those companies that do not employ the ten year limit.
Meanwhile, the two countries are actively considering a Draft Agreement on Repatriation of Lost and Stolen Vehicles. When this agreement becomes active it will serve to suppress incidences of vehicles stolen in one country and brought across the border into the other country. The agreement will provide for three levels of intervention in the settlement of cases involving lost or stolen vehicles depending on the circumstances of each case. These are: Interception of lost and stolen vehicles at the port of entry, Return by Administrative Means – an approach that can be taken in cases where the vehicles have been smuggled by other routes than the official port of entry and the judicial means when neither of the other two methods apply.
Ever since the official commissioning of the Takutu Bridge in September, Guyanese and Brazilian authorities have been working to sort out issues related to travelling between the two countries. Recently, the Guyana Police Force stated that there existed a serious threat that more guns and cocaine may be smuggled into Guyana with the opening of the bridge.
