FREEPORT, Grand Bahama- Attorney General Alfred Sears is reviewing the decision handed down last week by Supreme Court Judge Stanley Moore in favour of two licensees of the Grand Bahama Port Authority that could have a far-reaching impact on which items coming into Freeport the Bahamas Customs Department can impose and collect tariff.
Announcing this in Freeport on Friday, Prime Minister Perry Christie said Judge Moore’s ruling “obviously has caused considerable concern because it is so fundamental in its underlying principles and its impact.”
“Hopefully, in very short order, we shall respond as to the position of the Government of The Bahamas,” the Prime Minister said, in response to a reporter’s question at a press conference held to announce the new members of the Grand Bahama Housing Commission.
A lawyer by profession, Mr. Christie added, “I am always tempted to play lawyer, but in this capacity I shall not. I shall wait until those who are responsible for advising me on law to advise me. But clearly, we have to look at that (the ruling) very carefully and all of its implications, and I believe take the necessary action.”
The Prime Minister said one of the clear mandates of the Government of The Bahamas is to “work in tandem with the Grand Bahama Port Authority, so as not to cause any concern whatsoever about the relationship and the relationship that is governed by statute.”
“We have to hope that as we sit with the Grand Bahama Port Authority, which includes now Hutchison Whampoa, there is always on their part an understanding that we represent people,” Mr. Christie said.
He added that even though “the legal arrangements are solemn and solemnly held,” a degree of flexibility and respect has to be institutionalized, so that actions by the Port Authority do not place the government in an adversarial position.
Judge Moore’s ruling was in connection with a suit filed by UNEXSO and the Dolphin Experience Limited, licensees of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, that challenged audits conducted by Bahamas Customs related to certain duty-free items allowed for their businesses under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement.
In issuing an injunction restraining Customs from conducting “any such audits in the future,” Judge Moore, among other things, ruled that the audits were unconstitutional and “cannot be said to be reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.”
Judge Moore’s ruling was highly praised by Freeport-based lawyer Frederick Smith, who said the whole concept of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement “was to
create a simple legal structure to conduct business with the least amount of Government red tape so as to attract businesses, not only internationally but also from within The Bahamas.”
