A custom officer has demonstrated his displeasure with what he refers to as a “bad practice” by local importers of frozen meats, to save money wrongfully.
Custom officer Grade 1, Leonard Riviere of the Post Study section explained to the media outside the Woodbridge Bay Port Thursday morning that businesses are importing frozen pork back ribs ends with the bony framework and list it under classification 02032900; however this particular classification is specifically for boneless pork products, which carries a zero percent customs import duty.
“When this happens the business owner saves a lot of money which is still not passed down to the consumers, while the government is at a loss from this,” Riviere noted.
Under the Declaration Module of the ASYCUDA World Program, implemented in April 2009, any importer caught in this wrongful practice will penalized.
According to Riviere this practice has been ongoing since the 2009/2010 national budget had been announced, comprising a long list of items added to the zero percent duties list.
“Once the pork has bone it has to be classified under section 02032200, which is for hams, shoulders and cuts thereof, which has a custom import duty of thirty percent, while boneless pork which has an import duty of zero percent is classified under section 02032900,” he explained.
Passers-by declared the pork imported by a local business and classified under section 02032900, as bony, when they ate it. Riviere emphasized it was listed under the wrong section by the importer to save money.
– Larry Larocque, Staff reporter/photographer
the custom,s officer should ask people who come to clear stuff at the custom,s department to show ID.Someone just cleared a barrel and a box that i shipped to my brother-in-law,today 07/24/2012.they got hold of the clearance papers,and went and got the things cleared to them,there should be better security when people come to clear things at the customs.now this person has things that were not sent to him,i do not even know this person.
dominica just need some reality check to much custom officer making big buck and just we do not have friend working there we are the one paying for it but i will catch them and put them on mapin so the goverment will see what going on in that costom for money with friend that how i call it
Tariffs have been proven for 1000’s of years to BLOCK economic progress!
Any official who is (frightfully) unaware of this very fact would benefit deeply by consulting with the greatest treatise ever written in this regard:
The WEALTH OF NATIONS
Published in 1776 and instantly recognized as fundamental to an understanding of economics. The Wealth of Nations is the very corner stone of free-market thinking and a book that has proven the most paragon source of economic prosperity ever produced!
If you don’t want to read the entire thing, (I dont blame you), refer to they easy-to-read PJ O’Rourke’s, “On the Wealth of Nations” — Or simply get ANY free download from the Mises Institute of Economics (online)
Everybody hates lower trade barriers – Lower them anyway if you wish for prosperity!
Broader prosperity requires broader markets. Consider a wonderful market for Dominica bottled water sent abroad! Lower tariffs and broader your market into prosperity!
To the commenting public. I never thought that dominicans would cling to their ignorance so closely. Have any of you making the comments pertaining to customs dishonesty been a witness to these acts. Or did you just hear it from a friend of a friend. Why don’t you self-proclaimed brilliant people try to put at least a spec of information into your vacant minds. Let me enlighten you for a moment. If the meat is improperly classified and duty is owed to customs, our main concern is not the meat but the revenue of the state. If however the proper documents are not submitted prior to the importation of said meat, it may be detained by or under the instruction of the quarantine officer of the ministry of agriculture until such documents are presented to the proper authority.
To those making accusations of low charges being placed on goods being imported by the family and friends of the customs officers:- How do you account for the fact that for every financial year customs is able to surpass the projected revenue to be collected which by the way is increased every year.
Now I know that some of you hate to read and educate yourselves. But do take these few moments out your busy schedule to put something in the empty vessel above your neck. However I don’t expect most of you to think any better and I don’t expect any of you to like customs. Not even in the bible we were liked. We are the tax collectors of the day. So our back is broad we can take the blows. But please people, think before you comment.
Collecting “tax” in the form of Tariff’s hurts the prosperity of Dominica!
To understand this FACT, I would respectfully suggest you note my other comment
Trust me Dominica for Riviere to publicly come out and say this its something to take note of i know this man personaly and he is the type to take seriously
can’t blame ppl for trying to save some money, customs duty is already to high
The customs is just getting a taste of their own medicine. They are not impartial or just in many of the things they do. They confiscate a number of items from people especally purporting that they are not permitted to be imported. Now what do they do with those confiscated items? They often find themselves at the homes of the customs officers. They benefit at the expense os sometimes poor people.
I returned from the US in 2005 with a pair of sneakers I bought for about US$25.00 at payless so you know it was not expensive and for my personal use. Can you imagine I was charged EC$35.00 at the customs( Melville Airport). Then I sent down a barrell with my school books( I was returning from study) and some of my clothing, and even those I was charged for. Malgre’ Ca!!!
ITASSIAN IF YOU THING THE CUSTOMS OFFICERS CHEATED YOU OR ROBED YOU WHY DONT YOU GO TO THE POLITICIANS WHO INVST THEM WITH THE AUTHORITY TO DO SUCH….IF YOU CASE IS JUST THE CUSTOMS OFFICER;S ACTIONS WIL E OVER TURNED AND DEALT WITH….BUT IT IS CLEAR YOUR AIM IS TO DESTROY THE CHARACTER OF CUSTOMS BECAUSE YOU HAD TO PAY DUTIES….YOUR A TRUE DOMINICAN MY BROTHER….GOD BLESS
veille case itASSian….i suggest you educate urself istead of making an itASSian of yourself….the officers supposed to charge duty on items imported into dominica…descretion is applied where necessary….if the officer thought u should pay for you shoes pay for your shoes….or challenge him…its very simple…in the end the customs officer is acting withing the law..if u think he is not im sure you and all the dominican who got issue with paying duties can find some politician to cry to…guess wat…who does the money the customs collect go to????
Dear Mr Itassian. Being that you are an itassian i suppose you live in the bush and have not been made privy to the way things work in civillised society. Let me illuminate. There is a book refered to in the import/export community as the tariff book and it contains all kinds of interesting things(sorry no pictures). It contains 97 chapters of just about any material item you cal think of, from clothes to shoes to food, from ground chicken to live chicken. ANY THING THAT YOU BRING TO THIS COUNTRY IS DUTIABLE. PERIOD. This book simply tells the customs officer what duties to apply to your goods. So please come out of the bush every once in a while and learn a thing or two.
next time make the plane pass over your house & drop your barrel & your shoes for you.all you too like freeniss i that country…..VOWAS…
customs officers hold your head up and continue doing your jobs…the ignorant and the foolish can not see how important and necessary you all are.when i go guadeloupe and you all take my orange and charge me for my rum i know that is the job.but those who do thier wok will always be hated but will later be appreciated.it is so sad to see dominicans talk about customs officers so…pittyfull..not all of them dat bad…not all…dominicans to wicked and badmind
If they know that importers are fraudulently mislabelling items, why don’t they do periodic audits on those they suspect of that practice. They they come down very hard on them, sending the message that that practic is unacceptable. They have the tools to dea with these importers. Had it been a poor woman from Layou, they would make her pay the correct duties.
Business in Dominica are under pressure so we will naturally try to pass goods under the lower tariff rate.I now ask Mr Reviere if the Customs Department is being fair across the board…why target we smaller inporters and allow the politically affiliated inporters go alone doing it.We all know wat im talking about.So please Mr Reviere excersing fairness in ur judgements.
Concerning Customs officers not paying duty or taking stuff to thier homes…come on …every known organisation had corruption…EVERY ORGANISATION…right down to government..however we can label ALL “CUSTOMS OFFICERS” as Corrupt…yes i have seen and experience my share of unfairness while dealing with certain officers…I AM NOT PARTICULARLY FOUND OF SOME CUSTOMS OFFICERS MYSELF.
however i must defend the legit..hard working officers…and i have been blessed to have met a few…and to my suprise they are human beings…hard working human beings….
SO WHY DONT WE SINGLE OUT THE BAD EGGS(OFFICERS) LET THEM KNOW THEY ARE BAD AND GIVE THE GOOD OFFICERS THIER PRAISES.
What a joke…..
when there are so many who boast of not paying any duties at all,
cause they have friends………
in Dominica….it is who you are…
or who you know.
HAHAHAHA! the JOKE is in YOU!!!!HEHEHEHE!
alexanderRamirez do you know this man PERSONALLY and can stand before a court and defend your name witnessing to the allegation you just posted? You people feel because you are behind computers under psuedo names you can simply libel and slander people with no consequences. He is doing his job, every body is not a thief. Have you been at one of the bbq’s you so lightly speak of ? if so then you have pork breath and should look at the fingers pointing back at your belly, if not then it’s hearsay and you’re deliberately tarnishing the individual because you feel you can do so.
We ask for change and accountability in Dominica, we ask for standards and when they are enforced we make sacrificial lambs of those who have been entrusted with the power to enforce said standards. What gives?
How much taxes do u want this government to put on our backside again Rivere. Taxes are also so high, I have to pay for everything I purchase from a a store plus VAT. What else do you wicked souls want from us nuh?
i think the govt is killing the small local businesses and giving china a tremendous breaks on everything. why dont they come up with a sytem for smaller tarriff taxes for small business. maybe a percentage system.and why are we importing so much us products. especially meat and farm goods. i live in the usa and the food is so terrible. natural good are more healthy.
I expected to see the Customs and the Criminal Investigation Department investigating this fraud. Please lets us not play politics with the Poor people and honest people of the country . Let us prosecute the criminals. It appears onlt murder is an investigative offence in the Nature isle.
If you do your research Mr. Alexander Ramirez you will know that Dominica has one of the most honest customs departments in the Caribbean. Customs officials from other countries come to Dominica and commend our Customs officers for their honesty and dedication especially under their current working conditions. Your claims of dishonesty are therefore groundless.
This is laughable! Please do not pretend that you are in favour of the consumer!
….Their families and friends also cheat customs department, because it is alleged that they too do not pay custom charges!
Whereas, when non-family members and friends receive a barrel with foodstuff from relatives overseas they are heavily charged.
Please do not be hypocritical! This is a publicity stunt!!!!
Go do some constructive work and stop wasting taxpayers money!
Ludicrous!!!!!
attention seeker…your 100% DOMINICAN….we are truely a special peaple….nothing can please us…we thrive on bringing down each other….we are not happy unless our fellow pple are unhappy and suffering….god bless u..KEEP ON FIGHTING THE CUSTOMS…ONE DAY YOU MAY SUCCEED
thumbs up to the customs division… continue the great work and there are plenty more to be discovered. thumbs up and God bless!
These businesses should be penalized to the fullest extent of the law cause when they save money it is not passed down to the consumers & customers who purchase their products. In these hard economic times everyone wants to save but what these business are doing are plain right illegal and malicious.
If the poor people of the country was benefiting from what they are doing I wouldn’t mind but is they alone to get rich of this scheme will poor people have to spend more to get what they need. The only thing that is coming out of this is the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
We need to have price control in this country in order to protect the customers and poor people from these greedy business owners with their high prices, until this is done we the customers are the only ones suffering.
LAW ABIDING CITIZEN …ITS NOT WHAT YOU KNOW BUT WHAT YOU CAN PROVE….YOU OFF ALL PEAPLE SHOULD KNOW THAT….I BELIEVE YOU HAVE A MAJOR POINT…WHY NOT LET THE CUSTOMS DEPARTMENT BE INCHARGE OF PRICE CONTROL IN DOMINICA? I MEAN THEY KNOW THE REAL PRICES OF EVERY ITEM COMMING INTO DOMINICA..THEY HAVE INVOICES AND DOCUMENTS….SO THEY CAN CALCULATE AND SHIFF OUT IMPORTERS WHO ARE ABUSING THE POOR PEAPLE OF DOMINICA…SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT HUH?
PORK IS UNCLEAN…….THATS THE REAL ISSUE.
Dominica should be a duty free port because customs charges kills businesses alot and they in turn kills the consumer, groceries are very expensive in dominica due to customs charges.
The said business people should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. These practices need to stop.
You cannot make Dominica a duty free port because that is where the country makes a lot of it’s money.
Like it or not you must pay taxes. That is the way the country makes its money. Nobody likes to pay taxes but without it how can we have the police, fire men or how would our roads get fixed. Taxes are necessary.
I must admit that some of these duties are very high but what can I say we must pay duties to keep the country afloat.
They should charge them ten times the amount and also jail them too. This is dam nonsense. I don’t mind if the consumer was getting it for less.
I have known this officer for a very long time and I am just not surprise to see him chant down those avaracious business importers.
I guess efforts to arrest those unscrupulous practice internally did not succeed and therefore the department had to resort to the media.
Well Done Rudy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bumpy must be having a big, big, laugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope the campaign to regulate those wrongs does not stop there.
Boss i support you a 100% those guys killing poor people the goverment needs to look into that
Mr >Customs officer.When you find the culprits you charge them right? then you take home the pork products and guess what you & your boys have BBQ friday saturday and sunday whole day.
isn’t that defrauding your employer?Customs officers historically have had frequent BBQs at their friends homes to serve as a diversion from their culpability.Custom officers are the most corrupt after gov’ts more so in africa latin america and the caribbean.You know how much BBQcertain northern DLP cabal peeps are having up north? … .So when this little fry custom officer want to pretend he trying a ting tell him to chill and eat his pork and get fat he could do with a few lbs of pork fat.
To thine ownself be true. I don’t think Mr. Riviere suffers from any guilty conscience, or he would not be on the Media taking businessmen to task. Clean up your dirty backyard first.
what do the guys know about customs?it is time for customs to put down there foot and make the businesses pay what they have to pay.and i believe customs officers should be the ones to implement price control around the country.businesses pay next to nothing for items and they come putting high prices on consumers even if they pay freight,goods should not be that high.and Dominica is an independent country run by a government not dependent lie Guadeloupe to France.If we have to close the country one day for importers sake ,we will.
ITS FACINATING THAT YOU DISPLAY ONE OF OUR BEST KNOWN CULTURES….RUNNING OUR MOUTHS….MY DEAR SIR…WE CUSTOMS OFFICERS ARE WELL BUILT FOR BEING HATED AND TAKING INSULTS FROM DOMINICAN AND DOING SO FOR VERY LITTLE PAY…SO FEEL FREE TO KEEP THEM COMMING.
SECONDLY…YES…I MYSELF AM A CUSTOMS OFFICER AND I CHALLENGE YOU TO COME TO WOODBRIDGEBAY OFFICE..GO TO THE POLICE…GO TO MATT IN THE MORNING…GO TIO THE MEDIA..AND CALL THE NAMES OR POINT OF THE OFFICERS WHOM U HAVE SEEN TAKE THE SAME PORK YOU SPEAK OF…SEASON THAT PORK AND BBQ IT AT THIER HOMES…THAT IS ALL U HAVE TO DO.
I AM TEMPTED TO REVEAL MY NAME BUT WE ALL KNOW D.N.O WILL NOT PUBLISH THIS SO WHEN YOU DECIDE TO COME FORWARD WITH YOUR EVIDENCE…YOU CAN CALL ON ME AND U CAN BET I WILL REVEAL MYSELF TO YOU…
SO HERE WE HAVE IT…YOU ARE ACCUSING ALL CUSTOMS OFFICERS OF TAKING THE PORK AND HAVING BBQ AT THIER HOMES….I AM NOT CHALLENGING U TO BRING FORTH NAMES AND UR EVIDENCE….SO LETS SO WHO IS RUNNING MOUTH AND WHO IS SERIOUS.
WTF is yr problem??? The man exposing a flaw in the system which u are paying for indirectly and u getting on like a goat….are u an importer sir???