The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A well-known fiscal hawk yesterday expressed “major concern” that Bahamian taxpayers would foot an ever-increasing bill to support the bureaucracies this nation is being forced to create through its international trade commitments.

Rick Lowe, an executive with the Nassau Institute think-tank, spoke out as Tribune Business uncovered details on a three-strong package of Bills designed to bring the Bahamas into compliance with its sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) obligations under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The Bills - the Animal Health and Production Bill, the Food Safety Bill and the Plant Protection Bill - each create a new supervisory body to oversee the specific regulatory regime they usher in.

The Animal Health and Production Bill requires the creation of a National Veterinary Service; the Food Safety Bill ushers in a Food Safety and Quality Authority; and the latter Bill calls for a National Plant Protection Organisation.

While there is nothing wrong with such organisations in and of themselves, and it could be argued that the Bahamas has long-needed updated legislation - and regulators - in the areas, Mr Lowe said the inevitable increase in bureaucracy raised questions over how the Government, already grappling with a fiscal crisis, would pay for them.

“We’re going to have to pay more and more taxes to keep these things going,” he told Tribune Business. “If the Government is running a deficit, and adding more borrowing, where’s the money going to come from?

“Either they’re going to have to run bigger deficits, borrow more money, or increase taxes. Their options for borrowing are becoming narrower and narrower, so they’re being forced to look at higher taxes to pay for these things. Who’s paying these taxes? All of us.

“If you grow the bureaucracy, it costs more to maintain it. That’s a major concern of mine.”

Ryan Pinder, minister of financial services, who has responsibility for trade matters, was in Cabinet yesterday, and unable to answer all the questions Tribune Business has on this issue.

However, in a brief e-mail he confirmed that upcoming public consultations will be held on the three Bills. Mr Pinder and his Ministry will lead that effort on New Providence, with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries taking the point on the Family Islands.

There is little doubt, though, that the Government’s move to bring these Bills forward - as with the package of intellectual property legislation - is being driven by the Bahamas’ trade agreement obligations, both the EPA and the impending accession to full WTO membership.

The Objects and Reasons sections for all three Bills states that they are designed to make the Bahamas “compliant with its obligations under.... the Economic Partnership Agreement.

“Additionally, the Bill seeks to achieve legislative compliance with the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS Agreement) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in order to meet the Bahamas’ international trade obligations.”

The Bills are likely to introduce profound cultural changes for some operating in the agriculture, fisheries and food vending sectors, especially those not used to operating in a rules-based environment.

For instance, the Food Safety and Quality Bill will deal with Food Handler’s Certificates; usher in permits for selling food on the street; licence food establishments; prevent the sale of food without a licence; and deal with licence suspensions and revocations.

“We don’t take care of the things we should take care of, and now we are being forced to implement things people feel we should take care of to fullfill some international mandate,” Mr Lowe said.

Arguing that the Bahamas should not have signed up to the EPA, or be looking for full WTO membership, Mr Lowe questioned why this nation was looking to establish health and safety mechanisms to deal with imports that had already undergone similar processes in their exporting nations.

“What the hell are we duplicating or reinventing the wheel for,” he asked Tribune Business. “If all these things we’re importing have to pass an inspection process before they leave the US, Canada, the UK and Brazil, wherever they leave from, what’s the point of us duplicating the process?

“It means more bureaucracy, more things to slow business down.”