A BILL to amend the Quarantine Act 28:05 was passed in Parliament on Friday.
The bill increases the fines and penalties for breaching the regulations as laid out in Sections 4 and 7 of the original Act.
Under Section 4, the new subsection 4 reads, 'Regulations may provide that any contravention thereof shall constitute an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine of $250,000 and to imprisonment for six months.' It applies to the Quarantine (Maritime) Regulations and the (Air) Regulations as well.
Section 7 deals with people who refuse to answer, knowingly give untrue answers, intentionally withholds information, gives false information, refuses to carry out an act they are required to do, assaults, resists, wilfully obstructs, intimidates, or attempts to bribe any officer or other person acting under the authority of the Act, or commits any other breach of the Act, as well as someone in authority who demands, solicits or takes a bribe in connection with their powers and duties under the Act. The penalties under this section were increased from $6,000 and six months in prison to $350,000 and one year in prison.
In piloting the bill, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said the fines were being increased as the air and sea borders were due to open on July 17.
He said the aim is to inform people that there are serious consequences to breaching the regulations, especially when it came to giving the correct information to be allowed to come into the country. He reminded that fines and penalties were the maximum which could be applied, and the actual amount to be applied was left to judicial discretion.
'There is due process which has to be followed. It depends on your mental intent when committing the offence. You can plead your case, and even ask for reprimand and discharge. We must not frighten people into thinking these are the penalties that are automatically applied once you breach the orders. The circumstances will determine the strength of the penalty applied,' Al-Rawi said.
Fyzabad MP Dr Lackram Bodoe voiced the main Opposition opinion on the fines, saying they were disproportionate. He said while some might consider that the fines are exorbitant and prohibitive, they understood that the fines were to prevent people from committing offences against the Act.
Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh said he hoped the app would be sufficiently tested so it didn't crash. He called on government to say who government had worked with to create the app, the cost and the terms and conditions.
Caroni East MP Rishad Seecharan asked whether the government would look at having certified labs in the US provide the PCR test results as he said they could be easily falsified. He said more consultation could be necessary to come up with more proportionate and appropriate fines.
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