NEWLY-APPOINTED BOSS of the Jamaica Bureau of Standards, Dr. Omer Thomas, has accused the bureau of abuse of the Standards Act, and failure to enforce some provisions of the Act."The bureau has failed to assert itself and enforce the law, resulting in ignorance on the part of some of the importers, about the correct procedures," he said.
Dr. Thomas, who succeeded Dr. Artnel Henry as executive director on June 15, described as "an aberration," the bureau's custom of allowing importers to import and then label goods in the island, instead of rejecting goods outrightly.
"The bureau has invoked certain provisions in the Standards Act that are applicable to emergency situations such as allowing importers to bring the goods in and making the corrections here," he said. "This should not have been allowed in the first place and has been soft-pedaling on the spirit of the law, a mainstay rather than an exception."
In light of this, Dr. Thomas made a recent ruling which allowed 14 importers to acquire the proper labeling of their goods which were seized at Port Bustamante more than a month ago. He defended this action as "fair rather than a compromise, as the importers are being allowed for this instance to make amends.
"I am committed to imposing zero tolerance on imported goods that do not meet the standards but I had to allow the importers some time. In the meantime, however, each importer has signed a compliance agreement and has paid a fee of $10,000. The goods are then released into local detention into the warehouses of these private importers. The goods will not be allowed out of the warehouses until corrections are made to the items. Inspectors are doing spot checks and anyone found breaching the terms of the agreement will have their goods detained, condemned or destroyed and the owners will be charged $500,000 per breach of the Standards Act, plus $100,000 per day that the breach continues and or 12 months in prison," he added.
Since the seizure, importers have been making corrections and report that they are making strides in complying with the bureau.
