Seemingly concerned over the likelihood that increased consumer demand may scale up local spending over a broad range of consumer goods, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has sounded its voice over what it appears to regard as the non-compliance by some traders with local laws and regulations relating to the quality standards that apply in the trading of consumer goods. The Chamber has commented publicly on what it believes to be an increase in the presence of counterfeit, expired, and inappropriately labelled goods and what it appears to see as an inclination towards consumer spending which, in some instances, would appear to be less mindful of prudent judgment in the choice of goods which not only transgress laid down quality regulations but also, in some instances, poses health hazards to consumers.
The Chamber is calling on the relevant state agencies – the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD), the Customs and Excise Department and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to assume an unrelentingly rigid posture in seeking to safeguard the country’s importation oversight standards against being compromised to the detriment of consumers. An official employed with one of the local state-run oversight entities says that while the GCCI’s call for a tightening up of mechanisms related to the importation of goods into the country is essentially the responsibility of the state, the leakages are a function of what she described as “illegal, for profit collusion” involving importers and functionaries charged with administering the law. The official explained that the country “is now in a condition where these kinds of irregularities and anomalies will occur” and that it was for the relevant state agencies to be “disposed to the enforcement of the law.” “As it happens, in some instances, that is not the case,” the state official added.
While the GCCI in its pronouncement has called for investigations to ensue in instances of sub-standard imports and actions taken to have those items removed from circulation, the state official told the Stabroek Business that it was likely that standards’ transgressions had become sufficiently prevalent so as to create a situation “in which the enforcement agencies would have to direct most, if not all of its resources, into erecting policing barriers to guard against sub-standard imports.” The official told the Stabroek Business that while some state functionaries are “at one” with the Chamber’s position, the extent of “that weight comes from the other side.”
While the GCCI’s views include a recommendation in which imported goods that transgress quality standards regulations be prohibited from local markets, the state official would go no further than state that when “influential operators are involved in these situations anything that is designed to impose restrictions will be shot down.” The official told the Stabroek Business that there was reason to believe that “some, a few state officials and agencies” make efforts to “push back” against quality standards transgressions, but “it is possible that the problem has to do with those who derive personal gain from those kinds of transactions.” Asked to comment on the GCCI’s recommendation that imports that fall outside the guidelines that allow for them to be put into use be removed from circulation the official told the Stabroek Business that while such action may be taken occasionally as “a kind of window-dressing venture, too many operators loose out if attempts are made to sustain those measures.”
Allied to concerns relating to the desirability of an import regime that embraces adequate quality standards, the GCCI is, reportedly, also urging the Customs, Excise and Trade Operations of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to seek to ensure more scrupulous adherence to taxation laws by importers in the private sector as well as to ensure equal application of the rule of law for all enterprises operating in this industry. Simultaneously, the GCCI is seeking to have the Ministry of Labour invoke the labour laws to be respected in the matter of the compliance of the business sector with the Labour Act, Occupational Health & Safety (OSH) Act and other laws and regulations pertaining to the smooth functioning of the national labour administration regime. Transgressions of laws pertaining to import regulations and to local labour administration have become an increasing challenge for both the public and private sector as the country adjusts to the vicissitudes of a petro economy.
