By Alric Lindsay
According to the Customs and Border Control (Amendment) Bill, 2024, published in the Cayman Islands Gazette on December 27, 2024, the Customs and Border Control Act is proposed to be amended. Changes include a 2% duty on goods temporarily imported with a view to subsequent exportation, a $50,000 fine and imprisonment for helping a person to remain in the Cayman Islands after they illegally landed. Several new administrative penalties have also been proposed for other matters.
Duty on temporary imports
Under section 22 of the existing Customs and Border Control Act, if the Director of Customs and Border Control is satisfied that goods are temporarily imported with a view to subsequent exportation, such goods may be imported free of duty for retention in the Cayman Islands for a period not exceeding six months, or, on prior receipt of a written request for retention, for such extended period as the Director may authorise.
It is proposed that such goods be subject to a 2% duty.
Under the proposal, the new wording of section 22 is as follows:
22. (1) Subject to any conditions as the Director may think fit to impose, goods which the Director is satisfied are temporarily imported with a view to subsequent exportation are subject to a rate of duty of two per cent.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), if the rate of duty in respect of a good imported into the Islands and enumerated in Schedule 1 to the Customs Tariff Act (2023 Revision) is zero per cent, the rate of duty under subsection (1) does not apply with respect to retention of that good in the Islands for either period referred to in subsection (4).
(3) Any goods temporarily imported which are not re-exported within the period or extended period referred to in subsection (4) become liable to the full duty payable in respect of those goods or such part thereof, as the Director considers appropriate in the circumstances of the case, as if the same had been imported without reference to this section.
(4) For the purposes of this section, “temporarily imported”, in relation to a good, means the good is to be retained in the Islands —
(a) for a period not exceeding six months; or
(b) on prior receipt of an application in the form and manner approved by the Director, for an extended period as the Director may authorize.”
Fine & Imprisonment For Assisting Someone To Remain After Illegally Landing
Under section 105 of the existing Customs and Border Control Act, it is an offence if a person illegally lands in the Cayman Islands or if a person assists them to land illegally or depart after landing illegally.
It is now proposed that this be amended to add an offence where a person knowingly assists or causes another person to remain or reside in the Cayman after they illegally landed in the Islands.
The wording of the proposed new offence is as follows:
(2A)A person who-
(a) knowingly assists or causes another person to remain or reside in the Islands where the remaining or residing would be in contravention of this Act;
(b) connives in such remaining or residing in the Islands; or
(c) wilfully does an act preparatory to paragraph (a) or (b), commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of fifty thousand dollars and to imprisonment for seven years.
Parents are subject to a fine if the birth of a child is not reported
Under section 94 of the existing Customs and Border Control Act, “In the case of any child born in the Islands in such circumstances that the child does not acquire the right to be Caymanian at birth, the child shall be reported to the Director as soon as practicable and shall thereafter be subject to Customs and Border control in a manner appropriate in all the circumstances…”
The proposed change requires a parent of the child to report the child’s birth to the Director within three months after the child’s birth. If not, the parent will commit an offence and may be required to pay an administrative penalty.
New schedule of administrative penalties
Under section 71A of the existing Customs and Border Control Act, notwithstanding that certain penalties are by the Act expressed to be mandatory, the Director may, in the Director’s discretion, impose an administrative penalty set out in Schedule 1 to the Act instead. In such cases, the Director shall serve the person with a ticket.
Schedule 1 is proposed to be replaced with the following list of administrative penalties:
