Belize court rejects Guyana rice importation

Jan 05, 2016 News

Belize – Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Young, has declined to grant leave to Jack Charles

The three containers of Guyanese rice stranded in wharf facilities, Belize.

to file for judicial review of a decision by BAHA to decline to allow him to import the three containers full of Guyanese rice sitting at the Big Creek Port.
Presiding in chambers, Justice Young ruled that Charles had proceeded without obtaining an import permit in violation of the law. She found that the Court was being asked to intervene on the side of a lawbreaker which it would not do.
Charles has also been ordered by Customs Department to send the rice back or risk it being destroyed.
Senior Counsel, Eamon Courtenay, representing the rice producers, dismissed Charles’s gambit as a “sob story” and an insult to those working in the rice industry and to consumers, whom he says would have no protection should Charles have been successful and imported his rice, then changed prices or attempted to command a larger share of the market.
Whether Charles tries again remains to be seen as he said nothing to reporters leaving court.
The rice from Guyana was held up last December after Charles failed to receive a permit.
He is arguing that he is allowed to bring rice in to Belize under the Treaty of Chaguaramas which governs free trade between CARICOM states.
However, local producers and retailers are fighting Charles, insisting he will damage the local market.
The three containers were not allowed to enter and were left in limbo on the wharf in Belize. (www.breakingbelizenews.com)