Faster Turnaround Time for Trade Permits

Importers and exporters are now seeing a faster turnaround time for the approval of certificates and permits through the Trade Board Limited’s online platform.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Dr. the Hon. Norman Dunn, said that the agency is moving from a two to three-day turnaround time for the processing of transactions to 24 hours.

“We are happy to report that for the transactions over the last two weeks, about 50 per cent of the daily requirements have had a 24-hour turnaround time, so we are well on our way to achieving that new mandate that we have given to the Trade Board,” he noted, while addressing a recent JIS Think Tank.

Dr. Dunn said that enabling faster processing and approvals of trade permits is in keeping with the Government’s efforts to improve the business environment.

“We are committed, as a Government, to ensuring that business with our departments and agencies is done in a manner that ensures that these businesses perform optimally because we are their steady partner in realising greater efficiency,” he noted.

“We are insistent on the fact that we want our traders to understand that the Ministry is there as a facilitator. We are going to ensure that the issues that affect trade are always dealt with in an expeditious way,” he stressed.

More than 8,000 import and export permits have been approved by the Trade Board since the implementation of its online export and import facilitation platform in June of this year.

The online platform was executed under the Jamaica Electronic Single Window for Trade (JSWIFT), a one-stop-shop facility designed to provide fully automated services to enable traders and their representatives to transact all attendant business engagements electronically.