Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) has filed an action in the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) against the Guyana government seeking millions of dollars in damages for its failure to apply the common external tariff (CET) on cement.
The action was filed on April 3 at the CCJ on Henry Street, Port-of-Spain, by TCL’s attorney Claude Denbow.
According to a TCL spokesman, in January 2007, TCL commissioned a US$10.5 bagging facility, Guyana TCL Inc, to supply the Guyana market with cement on the understanding with the Guyana government that the CET would have been placed on extra-regional imports of cement.
TCL ships bulk cement from its cement plant in Barbados to Guyana where it is bagged at the Guyana facility.
The spokesman said the Guyana government had “unilaterally waived” the CET on cement imported from outside the region without seeking approval from the Council for Trade and Economic Development (Coted).
TCL officials said they raised the issue at a Coted meeting in Guyana last October, and Coted officials informed the Guyana government of its obligation to apply the CET.
There was no comment from the Guyana government on TCL raising the matter at that forum.
The TCL spokesman said TCL did not legally contest the matter earlier because there was a supply issue, and the understanding was that the CET would have been applied once the bagging facility was operational.
Prior to the legal action being filed, TCL wrote several letters to Edwin Carrington, secretary general of Caricom, complaining about the issue.
The non-application of the CET means TCL has lost some market share and competitive edge, to importers of cement.
TCL has calculated its earnings loss from the CET not being applied and has asked the CCJ to order damages be paid as it sees fit.
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