The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is to hand down its ruling today on a matter filed by Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) against CARICOM and its secretary general over a decision to suspend the common external tariff (CET) for up to 240,000 tonnes of cement imported into Jamaica last year.

Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister Karl Samuda extended the waiver last September following a similar bye in 2006. The tariff was suspended in 2006 to shore up supplies after thousands of tonnes of faulty cement by local manufacturer, Carib Cement Company Limited (CCCL), had to be recalled.

Jamaica had applied for the waiver to be extended to allow for the importation of 240,000 tonnes of cement into the island for a six-month period. At the time, Samuda said there was no shortage of cement, but said the waiver would ensure there would be no dearth imminently.

He said importers had been complaining that CCCL had not been meeting the demand of the market, which they were able to satisfy when the CET was suspended.

The 15 per cent CET is imposed on goods being imported from outside CARICOM.

According to reports from the CANA news agency, TCL, which is the parent company of CCCL, has described the suspension of the tariff as irrational and illegal and has called on the court to make the suspension null and void.

It also wants the CCJ to issue a restraining order against CARICOM and a mandatory injunction to force it to revoke the suspensions and notify those affected.

Baffled by rules

During the trial in April, TCL lead attorney Claude Denbow argued that his client remained uncertain about the rules governing the CET, which came into effect in 1992.

He said TCL was further baffled as to how the regulators reached their conclusions.

He told the CCJ, the final appellate body for some regional countries, that Secretary General Edwin Carrington was "influenced by member states and did not accord any procedural fairness".

But according to Carrington under the existing guidelines, applications for suspension of the common tariff system come only from the "competent authority", which is the government.

Denbow added that he had no authority to look into the report from the competent authority and that Carrington was obliged to rely on the representation it made.

Caricom not responsible

CARICOM lead defence lawyer Anthony Astaphan told the court that the 'competent authority', according to CARICOM rules, was in effect a government minister and that CARICOM "would not be responsible if the claimant's case is that they were not consulted".

"The competent authority is not an organ of the (Caribbean) Community," Astaphan argued, adding that the TCL case was based on the argument that once it produced 75 per cent of cement, regardless of where it went in the Caribbean, it met its obligations to be a regional supplier "regardless of whether or not some Caribbean countries were affected".

Jamaica, which was not a party to the proceedings, was allowed to make submissions to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Solicitor General Douglas Leys, QC, said the issues which the court had been asked to address "have significant implications for the economy".

The legal representative for Jamaica also argued that TCL had not established the legal basis of the claim of procedural impropriety in Community Law and had not established the facts on which such a claim may be sustained.