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By Halshane Burke
The Supreme Court has put the brakes on the implementation of mandatory contactless clearance by the Jamaica Customs Agency.
The policy was to have taken effect on Tuesday April 2.
The matter was taken to court by the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association of Jamaica which has been calling for the repeal of the policy since it was first introduced by Jamaica Customs.
Implementation of the policy has been stayed until a review hearing, which is scheduled for April 25.
Contactless clearance is the process by which Customs conducts inspections of non-commercial cargo with a Cost, Insurance and Freight value of under US$5,000, without the importer or agent needing to be present for the exercise.
Customs implemented its contactless clearance process option for non-commercial cargo, following a pilot, undertaken between October 2022 and January 2023.
The process has, so far, remained optional, as Jamaica Customs gave a commitment to customers to provide additional payment methods before making the initiative compulsory.
However, the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association says contactless clearance threatens to make their roles and functions irrelevant by conducting the intrusive inspections of containers of goods without them or the importers they represent being present.
CBFFAJ President Clive Coke states that the move by Jamaica Customs is a clear breach of the Customs Act, and World Customs Organisation Procedures and Guidelines and the Fair Competition Act.
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