B.S.I. Says SI 62 is G.O.B. Trying to Probe into Its Private Commercial Affairs

This afternoon, B.S.I.’s Director of Finance, Shawn Chavarria said that the company’s interpretation of the changes made by Statutory Instrument Sixty-two of 2023 is G.O.B. trying to probe into the private commercial affairs of the company. It compels B.S.I. to collect and disburse Fairtrade premium, is a process that is currently being carried out by Tate & Lyle Sugar. Chavarria says that the legislation is pointed and discriminatory.

Shawn Chavarria, Director of Finance, B.S.I.

Shawn Chavarria

“We see the legislation as being completely unnecessary; it is disproportionate. In our view, the title of the legislation does not tell the story behind it. It is not really about controlling export. We know business rationale for controlling exports. Sugar, if you see the monthly reports coming from the Statistical Institute of Belize, continues to be one of the best performing exports. It’s more to do into getting into the private commercial affairs of B.S.I. and in particular, I think this was signalled already that government wants to find a way to get the fairtrade funds paid to the B.S.C.F.A. And in a sense, this is an attempt to do that; to force a S.I. to collect and received fairtrade premium because that is a specific clause in the legislation. And we have tried to point out that it is not going to work because at the end of the day, B.S.I. is not the party that pays the premium. It is the buyer of the sugar who markets and sells fairtrade sugar ultimately in these markets that pays the premium. And so the legislation cannot compel third party organization to do something that is not part of their business practice. So this attempt really will not achieve, we believe that objective, and we have tried very hard to explain that. But it seems it is not going anywhere. So we definitely object to this legislation; it is very disproportionate. We don’t see it for any other export business or a business in general in Belize. And so we think it is in a sense very targeted and discriminatory.”