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Members of the Executive Council of the Public Entity of Saba and their advisors are in Bonaire to discuss legislation that would enable them m to carry out price controls on regulated goods and also on goods that are designated ABB free. A delegation from St. Eustatius will also be part of the discussions.
While in The Netherlands, in October, for the regular Executive Consultations, between the islands and the various ministries, it was agreed upon with State Secretary of Finance Weekers that economic measures should be taken that will benefit all the consumers on the island. As part of a package of measures, that it was decided to initiate price controls on the island once more and also to increase the list of goods that can be imported to the island ABB exempt.
In light of these agreements made with the ministry , the Executive Councils decided that Bonaire would be the most practical location to hold discussions, because the island has the first –hand experience with price controls, having executed them while part of the former Netherlands Antilles.
The controls will commence as of January 1st of 2013. However the Executive Council will hold consultations with the various stakeholders such as the Saba Merchants Association among others, in order to familiarize the businesses with the legislation and also to give them the opportunity to give their input.
While in Bonaire the Executive Council will also meet with Customs Department with the goal of expressing their concerns about the new brokerage system called ASYCUDA that will be implemented by January 1st of next year.
Source: press release GIS Saba, November 8, 2012
This seems like very good news,
As there was a deal of oversight with the original insight the Netherlands task force/focus group that was sent to source prices on Saba (and I’m sure, Bonaire & Statia too (although I live on neither of the islands, only Saba)), the folks strolling the isles were not here to check cost of living (as I naively hoped), but merely to pre-catoloug the oncoming onslaught, basically it was never about how much it was for a “carton of UHT milk”, It was intended to gauge the percentage increase when it was surely going to come…
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Not checking the sell by date has led to my downfall, last year I spotted a packet of Ritz cheese crackers on a shelf, tactfully I’ll not reveal the retailer, but as an ex-king of the munchies, I just couldn’t resist.
Unfortunately the promised cheesy goodness turned into stale dust with the first bite, then I checked the expiration date… 2008. Now the cheese crackers have morphed into an entity that insists on be called “Sjoerd”, it hogs the couch and drinks all the beer and the conversation just sucks.
“Caveat emptor” it’s a trust thing & it isn’t just about cheese crackers and certainly can’t be blamed on the Dutch.
The president of the SBA ( in this case myself) has send a complaint email (and phone calls) to the head of the Bonaire Tax department management team since their attempt to implement the new Asycuda procedure is a bunch of bogus for an island our size. The intervention of our commissioners did its part and in an email the tax department promised to look into the implementation to find a workable solution. Lets wait and see what they come up with. I know, since I attended the so-called training session, that what they want to implement now, will not work on an island our size and it is contradicting to the intention of State Secretary Weekers attempt to lower prices for the population by not taxing items like milk, fruit, vegetables etc. That cannot work when the customs increases the administrative burden and time consuming procedure on businesses by 10.
Cheese. Crackers, I, your honour… Rest my case.