THE MINISTRY of Trade and Industry says it continues to actively monitor market conditions in the domestic cement market and will make any policy adjustments required to “effectively and fairly balance the economic and social needs of Trinidad and Tobago with the interest of consumers.”
The ministry’s assurance came in a statement on Thursday acknowledging the judgment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as it dismissed a challenge by St Lucia-based cement importer Rock Hard Distribution and its two former affiliates from TT.
On Wednesday, the St Lucia-based cement importer lost its legal challenge over the move by Trinidad and Tobago’s government to increase taxes on imported cement.
In its decision, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) dismissed Rock Hard’s application which complained of the 50 per cent increase in import duties on cement and all its arguments in support of it.
Rock Hard approached the CCJ to have reviewed the decision of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) of Caricom to grant TT’s request to suspend the Common External Tariff (CET) of five per cent on imports of other hydraulic cement and impose the 50 per cent rate from January 1-December 31, 2021.
The Government also imposed a quota on the import of other hydraulic cement.
The claim at the CCJ was supported by Rock Hard’s local importer, Rock Hard Distributors and Mootilal Ramhit and Sons Contracting Ltd.
Rock Hard closed its TT business in September, last year, blaming it on the imposition by the Government of “continuous challenges” to its doing business here. It, however, continues to operate in other Caribbean islands.
In its application at the CCJ, the companies argued that the imposition of the 50 per cent import duty would have a deleterious effect on its viability and sustainability. They challenged the legality of the COTED decision, maintaining it was “flawed” and jeopardised trade expansion with other countries (Rock Hard’s cement was imported from Turkey) nor was there consultation.
It was also Rock Hard’s contention that COTED wrongly allowed TT to impose a tariff rate for other hydraulic cement far beyond their World Trade Organisation (WTO) bound rate of five per cent.
The Government, Caricom, and the two interveners, the Government of Belize and local cement producer Trinidad Cement Ltd disagreed with Rock Hard’s position and also challenged the court’s jurisdiction to decide the issue of the compatibility of the COTED decision with WTO law.
In their ruling on the latter, the CCJ judges held that it did have jurisdiction to decide whether and to what extent the WTO law was part of Caricom’s law and whether, on interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC), it was bound by the trade organisation’s law.
The CCJ held that in relation to the setting of tariff rates, Caricom was “not so bound,” and although it was expected that COTED would have regard to the WTO-bound rate when called on to make decisions on the suspension or alteration of the CET, it did not restrict its powe
