By: Dr. Jan Yves Remy and Alicia Nicholls
This year, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) delivered two substantive rulings in a dispute aptly dubbed by the media as the ‘cement saga’, a reference to a long-running spat involving regional competitors in the cement business: Rock Hard Distribution Limited, and its subsidiary Rock Hard Cement Ltd (RHCL), on the one hand; and Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) and its subsidiary Arawak Cement Company Ltd (ACCL) on the other. The dispute would result in five CCJ rulings and several orders.
In its first substantive ruling, issued in April, the Court decided on the applicable rate of duty to be paid on Rock Hard cement imported from outside the region into Barbados. The second ruling concerned the correctness of the cement classification decision made by the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), the CARICOM Ministerial Council charged with administering the Common External Tariff.
In this SRC Trading Thoughts Column, we take a brief look at the cement saga and discuss its legal and economic implications, highlighting the importance of the CCJ in advancing the development of Caribbean regional integration and trade law.
