Tensions ease at border as BMA lifts fees

During negotiations between the butane industry and Belmopan, the Musa administration did agree to waive new fees that were implemented at the Western border. But that point is now moot as a press release issued today indicates that in light of a tense standoff between custom brokers, truckers, and importers “the board of Directors of the [Border Management] Agency has resolved to suspend the implementation of the schedule of charges at the…border…pending the outcome of a meeting set for Monday, twelfth November 2007.” According to B.M.A., the charges were imposed to assist in defraying the costs of maintaining the cargo compound facilities. The release goes on to state: “The Agency trusts that this decision…to facilitate the movement of certain essential cargo…and the processing of all trucks currently within the compound…will afford all parties the opportunity to raise and address all concerns arising out of the charges in a rational way”. Freight operators and truckers had stopped paying customs duties in protest of the new fees, maintaining that services and facilities being offered at the Western border did not justify the charges.