Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) and subsidiary TCL Guyana Incorporated (TGI), yesterday filed an application in the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) against the Government of Guyana, requesting the CCJ to hold Guyana in contempt of court for failing to implement the Common External Tariff (CET) on cement from non-Caricom sources, as ordered by the court. This is the first time that a contempt of court motion has been filed with the CCJ, which was established in 2005. The judges of the CCJ will now have to decide who the contempt motion will be targeted against, and what fine will be appropriate. In the motion, TCL says that the Attorney General of Guyana should be the person to answer.

On August 20, the CCJ ruled that Guyana was in breach of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, after the country failed to apply the CET on cement imported from outside the region. The CCJ ordered Guyana to reinstate the tariff from cement from non-Caricom sources within 28 days of the ruling. After the ruling, Guyana’s Attorney General Charles Ramsom, SC, said Guyana would honour this obligation. “Guyana is prepared to obey the order of the court,” he added. Only Guyana and Barbados have signed with the CCJ since it was established in 2005. Ramson observed that the two Guyanese CCJ judges did not sit on the tariff hearing against Guyana, but he noted that two Trinidadian judges were on the panel, “even though there was provision in the agreement establishing CCJ in Article 11 for a panel of three or even one to hear a case in its original jurisdiction.”

However, TCL said the court order was not honoured, forcing the company to seek further redress through the courts. TCL, in a news release, said while an application was subsequently made to Caricom by the Government of Guyana to waive the CET on cement, this request was turned down before the 28-day deadline stipulated by the CCJ. “The time for compliance with the order of the court also expired on September 17, and Guyana has not taken any steps to act in accordance with the ruling of the CCJ,” the release stated. In the application, TCL and TGI are requesting the CCJ to summon the Attorney General of Guyana, to give evidence and show cause why he should not be held in contempt of court for failing to obey the order of the CCJ. 

“TCL views this failure to abide by and implement the ruling of the CCJ as a flagrant departure from the rule of the law,” the release said. “It also negatively impacts upon the public’s confidence and respect for the court. “It is hoped that Guyana will remedy this state of affairs expeditiously, and the CET on imported cement into that country be immediately re-established.” Attempts were made last night to reach Ramsom at home and at his office, but he was not available.