Trade Board Limited to eliminate the backlog of permit applications by Oct 9

The Trade Board Limited (TBL) has committed to eliminating the remaining backlog of permit applications by Friday, October 9, 2020. This was disclosed by the Trade Board following a meeting with representatives of the TBL and the Jamaica Electronic Single Window for Trade (JSWIFT) team at the Ministry’s New Kingston offices on Tuesday, October 6, 2020.

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon Audley Shaw, has welcomed this turnaround time, and underscored the importance of JSWIFT as a means for simplifying trade. This came about after the Agency was earlier tasked by the Minister to move post-haste to clear the backlog, and move towards the portal realizing its full potential.

Meanwhile, State Minister in the Ministry, Hon. Dr. Norman Dunn, stressed the necessity of ensuring timeliness in the processing and approval of applications through the Portal. The TBL, working with the JSWIFT team, has also committed to returning to the guarantee of service of three working days for the turnaround of import permits by Monday, October 19, 2020, and also to working towards a turnaround time of 24 hours in very short order.

The JSWIFT export module went live on June 22, 2020, followed by the import module on July 20, 2020. To date, over 5,600 applications have been processed and approved through the system. The platform is a transactional web-based solution available to traders allowing them to apply and pay for licences and permits through a single portal from any location.

-END-