(Trinidad Guardian) The government of Belize has sued Trinidad and Tobago for allegedly failing to apply a 40 per cent Common External Tariff (CET) on 3,000 tonnes of brown sugar imported from Guatemala and Honduras in 2019.
In the lawsuit brought before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Belize is claiming that the T&T Government breached the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC), which established the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), by failing to apply the CET to the non-regional imports and is seeking compensation for same. This country has denied any wrongdoing.
Testifying before a seven-member appeal panel led by CCJ President Adrian Saunders yesterday morning, Belize’s Director General for Foreign Trade, Anthony Sutherland, claimed that his country initiated the case after an extensive investigation.
“The rules must be applied and must be to the benefit of all,” Sutherland said.
However, while being crossed-examined by attorney Terrence Bharath for the T&T Government, Sutherland admitted that his country could find no direct evidence to challenge this country’s claim that the duty was charged as required, besides the fact that the brown sugar was imported from non-regional suppliers during the period.
He suggested that the lack of evidence was due to a dearth of information and lack of transparency.
Sutherland also admitted that the CSME did not mandate Caricom members to only purchase from the regional counterparts.
Belize’s next two witnesses—Mac McLachlan, the vice president of international relations for the Belize Sugar Industries (BSI), and Ruy Martinez, regional commercial director of American Sugar Refining (ASR), which jointly owns BSI with sugarcane farmers from Belize, have claimed that it would not be commercially viable for non-regional exporters to sell T&T importers at a rate below international market value that would be less than regional suppliers, unless the CET was not applied as it should have.
“It would make no sense,” McLachlan said.
“No company would sell a product below what they would get on the global market. It would not happen,” he added when quizzed over the possibility of non-regional exports reducing their price on excess sugar supplies.
“It is just impossible,” Martinez said when confronted with the same proposition.
Martinez maintained his position even when asked to point to evidence that the sugar was smuggled into T&T.
“The prices in T&T support that fact…It is not something that was conjured,” he said.
Martinez suggested that Belize’s allegations were supported by a drop in the importation of brown sugar from regional suppliers coinciding with an increase of imports from non-regional suppliers, as it was not viable to import brown sugar from outside Caricom unless the CET was waived.
“Forty per cent is a big chunk depending on what the international price is. Competition is good when free trade agreements are followed,” Martinez said.
Testifying on behalf of the T&T Government yesterday was Deputy Comptroller of the Customs and Excise Division Keith Huggins.
Huggins claimed that in response to complaints from Belize, he checked his division’s computerised records, which showed that the CET was applied to all brown sugar shipments from outside Caricom.
Questioned whether it was possible for importers to make false declarations or pass off imported brown sugar as refined white sugar, which does not attract the CET, Huggins admitted that it was theoretically possible but noted that he had no data to verify such claims.
“Hypothetically, yes. That can happen anywhere in the world,” he said.
Huggins could not say how regularly sugar shipments were physically checked by his subordinates in the division.
“Physical checks are always done but you cannot examine 100 per cent of cargo,” Huggins said.
The hearing ended with Huggins being quizzed by Justice Jacob Wit over his decision to not include the total imports from Guatemala and Honduras for 2019 in his evidence presented in the case.
Huggin’s claimed that he was instructed by State attorneys to exclude the figures, as well as the names of specific local sugar importers due to confidentiality concerns.
The case is scheduled to resume today when Huggins is expected to complete his testimony.