Caribbean customs departments aim to improve business facilitation, trade

By Michelle Nurse On May 9, 2018

Members of the Caribbean Association of Customs Brokers (CACUB) in discussion recently (Photo via Barbados Today)

One regional association is about to turn up the pressure on Barbados and other Caribbean territories that have not yet fully implemented systems in their customs department to improve business facilitation and trade.

Officials of the revamped Caribbean Association of Customs Brokers (CACUB), say after a nine-year hiatus, the organisation has a renewed mission – to make the clearing of goods in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) more efficient and to improve the ranking in the Doing Business report.

Customs Broker Louis Forde told Barbados TODAY a “major problem” contributing to the inefficiency in customs in Barbados was the slow implementation of the ASYCUDA World system and the Electronic Single Window. ASYCUDA is a computerised customs management system, which generates trade data and covers most foreign trade procedures including accounting and customs declaration.

Forde said a major part of the delay in fully implementing the ASYCUDA World system, an upgrade to ASYCUDA, was the deferral in merging the Customs Department into the Barbados Revenue Authority over the past three years.

“That is why we have not implemented our ASYCUDA World or have other systems implemented because [of] the labour aspect. You have the will on the political side to move everyone into a revenue authority, but the staff does not want to go,” Forde told Barbados TODAY, following a recent one-day meeting of CACUB members at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) office.