In the Legislative Assembly on Thursday (5) a new customs law facilitating the use of a harmonised coding system was passed.

Premier, Hon. McKeeva Bush, who has responsibility for customs said, “The current system used for classifying imports and exports is not detailed enough to provide useful information to the government. This new law will provide description codes that will be applied internationally.

“The current system has 221 commodity groups under 22 tariff codes and the vagueness of the codes makes it difficult to report the volume and value of specific items imported and exported. This has prevented government from getting proper policy guidance on duty levels. There is a need to track things more specifically so government could in future calculate what would happen to the public purse if it was to take a policy decision to change duty levels up or down on any item. However, government will not increase duty on anything under the existing customs tariff, and although goods will have new codes, the duty levels at present will remain the same.

“The harmonised international standardised system which the country will now adopt is maintained by a world body that covers 172 countries and comprises 5,000 commodities. It places goods in categories that are the same around the world with relevant codes in a harmonised system and classifies things more clearly and specifically. In adopting this system it will bring many advantages to government and the trading community, including more transparency and the opportunity to target protection, and it will assist government in making better economic decisions. The system will also make revenue collection more efficient and provide much better statistics for international comparison and local use.”

Although duty levels weren’t changing, a new flat fee of $100 per container was being introduced to pay for the new scanner recently acquired by the customs department that can examine every container.

Mr. Bush said, “I am confident it will serve as a positive crime prevention measure and deter smuggling, but it has cost $3 million in addition to annual running costs. The bill is long overdue and I must commend the customs department for the work they have put in to finally implement this new law and system.”

You can download a copy of the new law at:

gazettes.gov.ky/sites/default/files/gazette-supplements/Gs022012_web.pdf