Attorney Christopher Ram says that Guyana must comply with a ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to pay Suriname company Rudisa Bev-erages some US$6, 047,244.47 ($1.2B) which had been collected in an environmental tax that contravenes the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC).
“In my view Guyana has no option but to comply with the orders of the CCJ. Section 4 of the CCJ Act provides with narrow exceptions for decisions of the Court to be final. If we were to flout the declaration and orders handed down by the Court, we would be exacerbating an already bad situation and potentially invite retaliatory measures from our CARICOM partners,” Ram, also a chartered accountant, wrote on his blog.
In the ruling, issued earlier this month, the court also ordered Guyana to take the necessary legal or other measures to prevent the collection of the environmental tax on goods of Caricom origin. According to the ruling, the country is also obliged to file a report with the Court within six months on its compliance with the orders made by the Court.
The judgment, issued in the court’s original jurisdiction, could lead to similar claims against the government from Caricom