Trade Board Resumes Bimonthly Meetings With Customs Brokers

Trade Administrator and Chief Executive Officer of the Trade Board Limited (TBL), Douglas Webster.

Chief Executive Officer of the Trade Board Limited, Douglas Webster, says the recently reinstated bimonthly meetings with the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association of Jamaica is a part of the Trade Board’s efforts to improve responsiveness to issues while conducting trade.

Speaking with JIS News, Mr. Webster noted that the significant increase in the number of vehicles being imported resulted in a backlog last year.

“Essentially, there has been a surge in the volume of imports, particularly motor vehicles, and, within that category, in the sub-category of used motor vehicles. Each motor vehicle, whether new or used, requires an import licence from the Trade Board,” he added.

According to Mr. Webster, 58,638 motor vehicle import permits were issued by the Trade Board in 2019.

“With that outpace in our resources up to that point, there were delays and backlogs in the processing and approval of licences. That along with certain other complications attendant to the growth in the sophistication of the overall trading, there have been lags, so what we are doing now is talking to each other in a systematic and structured way every other month,” he explained.

Mr. Webster said the Trade Board will continue to improve communication between organisations to resolve issues in a faster time.

“In-between meetings, we are also keeping in touch with each other in a more real-time fashion, so that if anything comes up that is of particular concern to the Association on a given workday, we can work on these problems with them with minimum delay,” he added.

The Trade Board is a regulatory agency of Government that is the certifying authority for goods exported under various trade agreements.

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