CCLEC SIGNS TREATY TO ESTABLISH THE CARIBBEAN CUSTOMS ORGANISATION (CCO)
The CCLEC 41st Conference was held in Havana, Cuba on May 22-24, 2019 under the theme
‘The Pathway to Success: Strength through Unity’. This event was marked by the historical signing of the treaty which will establish the Caribbean Customs Organization (CCO).
The signing ceremony was attended by high level government officials including, on behalf of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mr Menno Snel, Minister for Finance of Taxation and Customs of the Netherlands, Mrs Xiomara Ruiz-Maduro, Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Culture of Aruba, Mr Kenneth Gijsbertha, Minister of Finance of Curacao, and Mr Cornelius de Weever, Minister of Justice of Sint Maarten, who all signed for their respective countries. Ambassador to Cuba, Mr Andrew Brent, signed on behalf of the Bahamas, and Mr Antony Stokes, UK’s Ambassador to Cuba, signed on behalf of Anguilla, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Representatives from Customs, Mr Raju Boddu, Comptroller of Customs for Antigua, Mr Nelson E. Cordovés Reyes, Head of Customs for Cuba, Mr Cesar Zorrilla, Manager of the Technical Deliberative Department of the General Customs Directorate for the Dominican Republic, and Mr Fritz Alcindor, Deputy Director General of Haiti signed on behalf of their respective governments.
After three decades of operating under an MOU, members of the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council (CCLEC) agreed that it was of paramount importance, given the opportunities and challenges presented by technological advancements, to formalize the legal basis for sharing information. The MOU to establish the CCLEC was signed in 1989, an MOU which, although not legally binding, served the organization in meeting its objectives to improve the overall professionalism of its members through cooperation, sharing of best practices, human resource development, modernization, automation, harmonization of processes and procedures and information/intelligence sharing. However, global security challenges, the need for automatic sharing of information and the advent of several new trade arrangements means that the CCLEC’s role will become more complex. To this end, the need for a more robust legally binding mechanism to improve information and intelligence exchange was necessary.
On behalf of the CCLEC Secretariat and Executive Committee I convey our deepest condolences to the family, friends and Customs colleagues of Miss Camille Garrick of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Customs and Excise Department, on her recent decease at such a tender age. The loss of such a dear friend and co worker leaves us often speechless and sad. Comptroller of Customs, Mr. DaSilva praises her as “ an athletic, adventurous, kind individual and a valued member of the Customs and Excise Department since February 11, 2002”, who will be missed dearly. May we all aim for such a legacy among our peers. Life being so transient, let us all take stock of our short time here to make the best of it at work and home. She will be missed, but we can all keep her memory at heart. May you all be supportive of each other and her family at this time.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) in collaboration with the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council and St Lucia Customs hosted the first WCO Conference on the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) for the Caribbean, at the Bay Gardens Resort, St. Lucia, on 26-30 November 2018. The conference brought together Customs Administrations from Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Belize, BVI, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
CCLEC congratulates Jamaica on winning the 2018 photo competition.
Mr Raju Boddu, Comptroller of Antigua& Barbuda Customs and Chair of CCLEC Finance Committee, represented CCLEC at the 17th WCO IT Conference & Exhibition which was held in Lima, Peru. Delegates from seventy five countries attended the event which took place from June 6-8, 2018.
