New Customs Tariff

ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, THURSDAY, January 21, 2010: Effective 01 February 2010, a new Tariff will be implemented by the Customs and Excise Department of the Ministry of Finance Grenada.

As part of its modernization process, the Customs and Excise Division has embarked on implementing the new CARICOM Common External Tariff (CET) which is based on the (2007) Harmonized System (HS). This will replace S.R.O 37 of 1999 which was based on the 1996 HS.

Trade over the years has evolved into a wide range of new products, whilst older products have become obsolete. Consequently, it has become quite apparent that these changes should be reflected in the trade data being produced by the Customs and Statistics Departments in serving the trading community.

The Customs and Excise Department therefore takes this opportunity to officially inform its internal and external customers, stakeholders and the general trading community, that the tariff change will take effect on Monday February 1, 2010.

Importers, Brokers, and the trading community are advised to take note of the following:

1. Because of the new tariff structure, importers are asked to submit all queried entries for     processing by 31st January 2010.
2. The Administrative tariff is currently on the Customs website – www.grenadacustoms.com but subject to changes to reflect policy decisions.
3. CD’s containing the Administrative tariff will be made available for traders who have computers but lack internet access.
4.  A document listing the new tariff breakouts and their Value Added Tax (VAT) treatment will be made available to the trading community.
5. The Entry Processing Unit (EPU) will exercise administrative tolerance; that is, amending declarations rather than rejecting them where possible, for 2-4 weeks after implementation as a means of facilitating traders.
6. The major changes expected in the new CET  are:
• Making some numbers redundant, since they are no longer used in trade.
• The addition of new codes to accommodate new products and different trading practices within the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Customs Organization (WCO) and CARICOM Member States.
• Transposition of HS Codes from one chapter to the next (e.g.) Printers, previously classified in 8471… has moved to 8443.
• The placing of additional columns to accommodate : the Environmental Levy (E.V.L) (Act 5 of 1997), Customs Service Charge (C.S.C) (Act 4 of 1993), Petrol-Tax and the soon to be implemented Excise Tax (ET)and  Value Added Tax (VAT) rates.

 

Contact Details:

Telephone: 1-473-440-2239/2240
Fax: 1-473-440-5038
Email: gdcustoms@spiceisle.com
Website: www.grenadacustoms.com     
Comptroller of Customs