Customs Brokers are persons, partnerships or corporations who assist businesses with international imports and exports. Regardless of  the method of shipping—by air, water or land. customs brokers serve as the middlemen to ensure all legal procedures are followed. Brokers must be licensed and they must show that they are knowledgeable in customs and other regulations.

 

 

Customs Brokers bring together critical business information that allows importers to clear their goods safely, securely and quickly through Customs. They manage your business data to ensure your goods meet customs requirements.

 

 

Companies or individuals interested in importing or exporting must go through a customs broker in order to complete the process. The size of the organization does not affect the need for a broker. Whether it’s a small company or a multinational, the use of a customs broker is a necessity.

A successful fight for recognition

The Customs Brokers Association of Jamaica (CBAJ) was born out of an idea formulated by a group of customs brokers who were experiencing great difficulty in clearing goods through Customs and saw the need for a cohesive body to represent their interests. November 15, 1965 was set as the day they would meet to discuss this problem.

They decided to set up a steering committee to draft a constitution leading to the formation of the Customs Brokers Association of Jamaica (CBAJ).. It is important to note that the Association was not formed for profit, but to guarantee effective representation and recognition of  brokers as professionals, speaking with one voice, operating under effective regulatory mechanisms and providing a high standard of  service to clients,  government and  members.  
 
A draft constitution was presented and adopted by a representative group of brokers on December 9, 1966. and Louis A. Williams was elected the first president.

  
Between 1966 and 1972, the CBAJ continued the struggle for national recognition. In 1972, the first draft of regulations to govern the operations of customs brokers was penned by government, but did find  favour with. the brokers who objected to several provisions of the draft, and resolved to prepare and submit an alternative draft. This was completed in July 1973 and submitted to the Collector General who was the head of Customs at the time.  The first regulation recognizing the practice of customs brokerage was enacted into law on March 4, 1976.  

Again, the association brokers thought that this new law did not meet all their requirements and continued to lobby government.

In the meantime, the day-to-day challenges gave rise to a significant increase in  organizational activities, necessitating changes in the structure of the Association to meet the new demands. Several committees were formed to facilitate greater input by the membership as well as to strengthen the organization and enhance development.  

After many years of lobbying and dedicated work, the Association has seen many of their constructive proposals being adopted by government, among them, government's decision to amend the Customs Regulations of March 4, 1976. The Customs (Amendment) Regulations of November 23,1988 was passed, fulfilling one of the key demands that only licensed brokers should be engaged in the business of entering goods for import and export.  

This important recognition meant added responsibility and brokers found themselves having to ensure that a continuous stream of skilled personnel  was available to meet the needs of industry, commerce and the public sector.

The in-house training programme which had been started to enhance the professional development of members had to be expanded and the assistance of the College Arts, Science, and Technology (CAST), now University of Technology (UTech), was sought to develop a more comprehensive programme.

 With the blessing of the Customs Brokers Licensing Advisory Board (CBLAB), the Ministry of Finance, and the Education Ministry, a committee from the Association worked with UTech to develop an appropriate curriculum. This diploma programme started at UTech in October 1991, the Association's Silver Jubilee Year. with seven students who upon graduation were approved as Customs Brokers by the CBLAB.  

 A second programme commenced in September 1995 with over 22 students registering at UTech, but in 2002, it was transferred to the Management Institute for National Development (MIND) .

With the growth of regionalism through CARIFTA and CARICOM, the CBAJ established links with Brokers in other Caribbean territories in an effort to promote regional understanding of customs matters. Success came in 2001 with the inaugural meeting of the Caribbean Association of Customs Brokers (CACUB) at which Jamaica’s  Ivanhoe Ricketts, a two-time President of the CBAJ was elected the first President.

This move to keep Jamaica’s brokers well informed and involved in international customs developments, saw CBAJ obtaining membership in the International Federation of Customs Brokers Body (IFCBA) in 1992, a move which created important links with organizations like the Customs Corporation Council (CCC), the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the World Trade Organization (WT).. 

Delegations started attending world conferences and further evidence of  our impact at the international level came with the election of  Ivanhoe Ricketts as a Vice President of the world body and the selection of Jamaica as the venue for  IFCBA’s 2002 world conference which proved to be a very well-attended and successful event at the Sunset Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios.

Jamaica also hosted the second conference of the Caribbean Association in 2005..

The name of CBAJ was changed to Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association (CBFFAJ) at its annual general meeting in 2006 to more accurately reflect the responsibilities of Jamaica’s customs broking professionals..

 

 

 

Mr. Donovan Wignal

President

CBFFAJ Secretariat

14 First Street, Newport West

Kingston 13.

 

Dear Mr. Wignal:

 

 

Reference is made to correspondence dated June 6, 2006, regarding Free Codes for Software Application (copy attached).  Please be advised that Licences (Certificates of authorization for using software applications) may also be entered duty exempt using the Free Codes, which were assigned to data or instructions as under:

 

 

 

As usual, your kind cooperation is anticipated in ensuring that the information is communicated to the members of the Customs Brokers and Freight Forward Association of Jamaica.

 

         Yours sincerely,

 

 

          Linda Eccleston (Mrs.)

 

 

 

 

Mr. Donovan Wignal

President

CBFFAJ Secretariat

14 First Street, Newport West

Kingston 13.

 

Dear Mr. Wignal:

 

 

The attention of Customs Brokers is drawn to Paragraph 10 of the Schedule to Section 19 of the Customs Act which states that ‘where the value of the data or instructions recorded on any carrier medium for data processing equipment is distinguished or distinguishable from the cost or value of the medium itself, then, in determining the transaction value of the carrier medium, no account shall be taken of the value of the recorded data or instructions’.

 

You will recall that vide Ministry of Finance 108/144 T/J dated December 14, 1998 approval was granted for a waiver of the Customs duty payable on compact disc/diskettes (other than those containing music and/or games) imported for education and business purposes.  General Consumption Tax (GCT), Customs User Fee (CUF) and Standard Compliance Fee (SCF), are all payable unless otherwise exempted.

 

There is currently however, no procedure in place to address the circumstance referred to in Paragraph 10 of the Schedule to Section 19 of the Customs Act.  It is therefore proposed that where the condition listed in this paragraph obtains, that is, where the cost of the instructions or data contained on compact discs is distinguishable from the cost or value of the compact disc - in other words, where there are separate values for the compact disc and the information on the compact disc – the following Free Codes should be applied in respect of the information or data.

 

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Please note that the term “data or instructions” shall not include sound, cinematic or video recordings.

 

Please further note that full duties should be applied in respect of the compact discs.  Brokers should, however continue to apply Free Code 951 in those instances where the value of the information is not separated from the value of the compact discs.

 

As usual, your kind cooperation is anticipated in ensuring that the information is communicated to the members of the Customs Brokers and Freight Forward Association of Jamaica.

 

         Yours sincerely,

 

 

          Linda Eccleston (Mrs.)