Island to indicate Customs
structure before June 30
PHILIPSBURG--Finance Minister Ersilia de Lannooy met with the head of Customs of the Netherlands Antilles, the six department heads and other colleagues in St. Maarten on Friday.
The meeting was informative, but also had a message of urgency for the islands to indicate how they want to see their Customs Departments within the new constitutional status. Head of Customs Julian Lopez Ramirez told The Daily Herald the islands needed to decide by June 30 how they wanted their Customs Departments to be structured.
“On July 1, the Customs will then inform the islands on how to go about matters to set up the new Customs Departments,” Lopez Ramirez said.
For St. Maarten, a Customs Department will be relatively simple, De Lannooy said recently. She indicated that because St. Maarten is duty-free, the Customs Department’s job would not be too complicated. “It will focus primarily on border control,” she said.
She believes St. Maarten’s Customs Department should be able to function optimally with a total of 12 officers.
