The CBI, which is the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), was introduced in 1983 and enhanced in 1990 for an indefinite period. In 2000, the CBERA was further expanded through the enactment of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) providing for additional preferential access for Caribbean Basin products. The Programme is intended to facilitate the development of partner countries in the Caribbean region by granting them duty free access to the U.S. market for most goods. The CBTPA is slated to expire on September 30, 2030.

Goods coverage: Most products are eligible for duty-free, quota free access to the USA, with the exception of canned tuna, petroleum and petroleum products, footwear, work gloves, luggage, handbags, flat leather goods such as wallets, leather apparel, and watches and watch parts, if any components originate in a Communist country. Duty-free sugar exports are also limited either by absolute quotas or by ""competitive need"" limits contained in the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). These restrictions are intended to ensure that duty-free sugar imports will not impede the United States price support system for domestically produced sugar.

This Free Trade Agreement was signed on the 22nd of August 1998 and provisionally entered into force in December 2001, following the signing of the Framework Agreement, along with the Protocol implementing the Agreement on 28th April 2000. The FTA is based on reciprocity with the five More Developed Countries of CARICOM (MDCs), which includes Jamaica.

Goods coverage: The Agreement allows for duty-free trade for about ninety percent of the goods traded between the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. For those products not eligible for duty free treatment, the Agreement provides for phased reduction of duties by 2004, and the Most Favourable Nation Treatment for the remainder.

Consequently, most goods can be imported into the DR duty free or benefit from the phased reduction of tariffs to zero, except for certain goods for which MFN duties will apply. Some specified agricultural products will also have their MFN tariffs re- imposed during pre-specified months of each year based on seasonal application. Notably, products covered by the CARICOM’s Oils and Fats Agreement will continue to be protected and are not subject to free trade.

Rules of Origin/Cumulation: Products wholly produced, harvested or birthed within the territories, territorial waters and EEZs of the Parties, as well as those obtained in international waters by ships owned or partially owned by nationals of the Parties, are considered to have originated from the territory of the Parties. Substantial transformation, however, must take place in order for extra-territorial products to be deemed originating, while goods resulting from cumulation, in the production of goods using inputs obtained from the contracting Parties, are also deemed originating. A De minimis (or maximum ignorable) allowance of not more than 7% of inputs being untransformed is also provided for.

Overview

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), established by the 1973 Treaty of Chaguaramas, created a customs union and later introduced a Common External Tariff (CET) in 1992. Under the 2001 Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), the regional arrangement was further enhanced to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, labour and capital, as well as the right to establish businesses throughout the Community. Currently, only the CARICOM Single Market is operational. The Treaty also provides for the implementation of a common trade policy.

Members of the CSME

Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago.

***It should be noted that the Bahamas and Montserrat are not participating in the CSME.

Free movement of goods and services

CARICOM works to achieve the free (unrestricted) movement of goods and services in the region through measures such as the elimination of all barriers to intra-regional movement and harmonising standards to ensure acceptability of goods and services.

Common External Tariff

The Common External Tariff (CET) is a single tariff rate agreed to by all members of the CARICOM community on imports of a product from outside the CARICOM. Goods imported from third countries (non-CARICOM States) are subject to the duties listed in the CET, but goods imported from CARICOM countries, certified to be of CARICOM origin do not generally attract these import duties. These CARICOM origin goods enjoy duty-free status, that is, they are not subject to customs import duty.

Rules of Origin/Cumulation

To qualify for duty free treatment, goods must be wholly produced within the Community or produced within the Community from materials imported from outside that have been substantially transformed. That is, they must ultimately be classified under a different tariff heading from that of the source materials.

Introduction

CARIBCAN is an economic and trade development assistance program for the Commonwealth Caribbean countries and territories established following a commitment by Canada at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Nassau in October 1985.

The objectives of CARIBCAN are to enhance Commonwealth Caribbean trade and export earnings, improve the trade and economic development prospects of the region, promote new investment opportunities, and encourage enhanced economic integration and co-operation. The main feature of CARIBCAN is the unilateral extension by Canada, beginning on 15 June 1986, of duty-free access to the Canadian market for most commodities originating in Commonwealth Caribbean countries.

On November 28, 1986, the Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) decided to waive the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the General Agreement until June 15, 1998. This waiver allowed the Government of Canada to offer duty-free treatment to eligible imports from Commonwealth Caribbean countries under CARIBCAN, without extending the same treatment to similar products from other contracting parties (L/6102). On July 28, 2015, the World Trade Organization (WTO) extended the CARIBCAN waiver (WT/L/958) until December 31, 2023, with the conditions of the waiver remaining unchanged.

Country Coverage

The Customs Tariff lists 18 countries or dependent territories which are eligible to receive the duty-free benefits accorded under CARIBCAN, namely: Anguilla, Antigua-Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Product Coverage

There have been no amendments to CARIBCAN product coverage since the changes made in February 1998.

Presently, the product exclusions from the duty-free provisions of CARIBCAN are:

• Goods of HS Chapters 50 to 65 inclusive;
• Goods covered by tariff items with "over access commitment" rates of duty established in the "tariffication" process.

Rules of Origin

The rules of origin for the purposes of the Commonwealth Caribbean Countries Tariff (CCCT) treatment are set out in regulations enacted pursuant to Section 16 of the Customs Tariff.

To qualify for the duty-free treatment accorded to Commonwealth Caribbean countries, at least 60% of the ex-factory price of the goods as packed for shipment to Canada must originate in one or more beneficiary countries or Canada. The 60% qualifying content may be cumulated from various CARIBCAN beneficiary countries or Canada. The goods must be finished in the beneficiary country in the form in which they are imported into Canada. Pursuant to the Proof of Origin Regulations, either a duly completed Certificate of Origin, Form A, or a written statement of origin signed by the exporter, must be presented to Customs at the time of release, accounting or refund.

The CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) is a trade and development agreement signed by 15 CARIFORUM States (The Caribbean Forum [CARIFORUM] is a subgroup of African, Caribbean and Pacific States [OACPS]) in 2008. The agreement governs the trade in goods as well as trade in services and commitments on investment, trade-related issues including government procurement, competition policy, intellectual property rights and sustainable development.

CARIFORM MEMBERS

Overall, 14 CARIFORUM countries are implementing the CARIFORUM –EU EPAs:

• Dominican Republic
• Caribbean Community states:
• Antigua and Barbuda
• The Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Jamaica
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Suriname
• Trinidad and Tobago

Unlike the CBI and CARIBCAN, the CARIFORUM is a reciprocal preferential trade agreement which essentially means that both regions are required to open their markets for the free flow of trade, in accordance with World Trade Organization regulations. The agreement allows the for duty free and quota free access to the European and UK markets for all goods except arms and ammunition. Since 2019, following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, a separate agreement between CARIFORUM States and the UK has governed trade between the parties.

Asymmetric provisions

The EPA does provide particular non-reciprocal benefits for CARIFORUM including the exclusion of sensitive products from the liberalization process, extended liberalization periods, flexible rules of origin, and special safeguards and measures for agriculture, food security and grassroots industry protection.

The EU also immediately and fully liberalized trade for the CARIFORUM States while, CARIFORUM Members have 15-25 years to gradually reduce trade barriers for EU imports.

The CARICOM Venezuela Trade and Investment Agreement is the first of the bilateral trade agreements CARICOM signed with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in October 1992 and ratified in June 2006.
This Agreement is currently a non-reciprocal preferential Agreement in favour of CARICOM and allows selected products which have been agreed to by the Parties to enter the Venezuelan market free of duty from all CARICOM countries. From Barbados’ perspective, given that CARICOM is not required to reciprocate this preferential access, it therefore follows that Barbados must grant Venezuela Most Favoured Nation (MFN) treatment in respect of all goods imported from that country. MFN treatment refers to the tariff applied to goods at the border of a particular WTO Member when exported from another WTO Member.

The Agreement on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation between CARICOM and Colombia was signed in July 1994 and ratified in June 2006. This Agreement began as a non-reciprocal agreement providing for the one way preferential access of certain products from CARICOM to the Colombian market. The Parties, however, agreed for a level of reciprocity to ensue on a select list of goods four (4) years after entry into force of the non-reciprocal agreement. A protocol amending the Agreement to allow for this reciprocity was signed in May 1998.
The Protocol to the Agreement outlines a list of items subject to duty free trade as well as a list of items eligible for phased reduction of duty between the CARICOM MDCs of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago and Colombia. The Lesser Developed Members of CARICOM are not required to grant preferential access to Colombia. It should be noted that the phasing process for goods under this list has been completed.

The fourth bilateral agreement signed by CARICOM and to which Barbados is a Party, is the CARICOM Cuba Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement. This Agreement was signed between the Parties in July 2000 and seeks to strengthen their commercial and economic ties. The Agreement allows for the reciprocal preferential trade in goods between the CARICOM MDCs of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba. The Least Developed Countries of CARICOM are not required to engage in the liberalisation effort.
At a Joint Commission Meeting in 2007, at the initiative of Cuba, both Parties commenced negotiations for preferential access for additional products into each other’s market.
Discussions at future Joint Commission Meetings between the two parties led to the formation of the Second (2nd) Additional Protocol of the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Government of the Republic of Cuba. The Second (2nd) Additional Protocol to the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement was signed by CARICOM and Cuba on 10 November 2017 in the margins of the Forty-Fifth (45th) Meeting of the Council for Trade and Development (COTED) in Georgetown, Guyana.

The most recently concluded bilateral agreement between CARICOM and the Spanish speaking countries of the hemisphere is the CARICOM-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement which was signed on March 9, 2004 and ratified in June 2006. As part of this Agreement, the CARICOM MDCs of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica agreed to reciprocal preferential market access for a select range of products (goods).
The Agreement provides for preferential access for a wide range of products. Some sensitive products have been excluded from free trade and a special list of products have been granted differentiated market access between Costa Rica and each of the CARICOM MDCs. There is also a list of products on a phased reduction of duty list. This phased reduction of duty list is no longer relevant given that the time period for liberalisation of the goods has ran its course.
The first Joint Council Meeting between the Parties took place on 17 June 2015 and concluded on 18 June 2015.
Major issues discussed at the Joint Council Meeting include non-tariff barriers, treatment for selected agricultural products, contact points, services and transportation.