The FNM government has submitted proposed regulations to Parliament that will rid the new Straw Market of undesirable vendors.
The regulations will set guidelines for vendors’ appearance and conduct. Vendors will have to be well-groomed, appropriately attired and use proper personal hygiene.
One would have thought that people selling items to tourists would have set those standards by themselves. But if you’ve ever visitied the Straw Market, you’d know they haven’t.
Vendors will not be allowed to display rude or disorderly behaviour, or solicit customers off the street. They will have to wait for visitors to enter the Market and then allow them to shop without any interference or harrassment.
Sexual, verbal and physical harrassment would also be strictly banned. Duh!
The “Straw Market Authority Regulations 2011” was tabled by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham yesterday and was created to govern the operation of the new Straw Market.
Another regulation states that only Bahamians will be allowed to tend the stalls. And vendors will have to hold a valid business licence, be up-to-date on their National Insurance and be immunized against certain communicable diseases.
Vendors would only be allowed to wear Bahamian-printed clothing, or other similar national attire, and would be required to wear government-issued, vendor identification cards at all times while in the market.
No more sub-leasing their stall. No more hairbraiding, manicures and pedicures. No smoking.
Most importantrly, no more counterfeit products.
After nine vendors were arrested in NYC for possession of counterfeit brand name products in September, 2010, the Bahamas government had to promise the enforcement of long-standing intellectual property rights agreements that prohibit copyright infringement, including the sale of fake designer handbags.
Vendors, of course, reacted unfavourably towards these new regulations.
When initially informed of the government’s ban on counterfeit products, president of the Straw Business Association, Esther Thompson, called the government a “joke” and said that “the war is on”.
Vendors not complying with the new rules could be fined $500 and have their licence suspended or revoked.
The new market is shceduled to open sometime after October 17, 2011. It remains to be seen whether the new regulations will be enforced.
