Come
December 31, 2008, when the CARICOM Single Market and
Economy (CSME) is fully implemented, there will be no
need for CARICOM nationals to have permits or skills
certificates to work in members states, as by then,
every category of the workforce would be eligible to
move freely.
Ivor Carryl, Programme Manager for CSME regional unit,
made the disclosure as he addressed a discussion forum
held recently at the Fellowship Tabernacle auditorium
in Kingston.
Currently, artists and musicians, sportspersons, media
workers, managerial, supervisory and technical staff,
the self employed and university graduates can move
freely without work permits. Others, who do not fall
in those categories, such as plumbers, carpenters and
so on, however, have to acquire work permits.
Meanwhile, Robert Miller, Head of the CSME unit in the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, informed
that Jamaica had completed work in some14 key areas
to ensure single market compliance.
“To become single market ready, Jamaica passed
the Foreign Nationals and Commonwealth Citizens (amendment)
Act, which removed the work permit requirement for Commonwealth
nationals and the Caribbean Court of Justice (Original
Jurisdiction) Act, in 2005,” said Mr. Miller.
The Jamaican CSME unit head also noted that the country
had signed off on the agreements establishing the CARICOM
Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ);
Transference of Social Security Benefits; and Intra-Regional
Double Taxation, which states that CARICOM nationals
working in host countries will only pay taxes once on
their income.
Other CSM compliance achieved by Jamaica include: the
removal of legal and administrative restrictions regarding
the Right of Establishment for business, the provision
of services and the movement of capital; and hassle-free
intra-regional travel, of which one component is the
designation of separate lines for CARICOM nationals
and non-nationals at the individual country ports of
entry.
Mr. Miller also noted that Jamaica has recently re-designed
its immigration card to “capture core data agreed
on at the regional level.”
Included in the CSM compliance regime is the presence
of a national accreditation body, a competition body
and an intellectual property body – all of which
already exist in Jamaica.
It is important to note, that while Jamaica has reached
compliance on some 14 key areas, this does not reflect
the actual number of ensuing legislation, which is so
far set at 371.
As Mr. Carryl explained, “often when work is begun
on amending these legislation, it is discovered that
another set of amendments would be needed. In other
words, there is sometimes a spin-off or new issue introduced.”
On the issue of free movement of labour, Steven Mac
Andrew, Specialist, Free Movement of Labour/Skills,
informed that Barbados had so far issued some 1000 skills
certificate to replace the work permit in the single
market. Trinidad and Tobago, he said had issued more
than 500 and Jamaica almost 400.
These
figures, he said, do not represent a feared mass migration.
He also disclosed that a database to track the movement
of people was developed by the CARICOM Secretariat
in 2004 and that this tracking involved not only workers,
but also criminals.
On the matter of social security, Mr. Mac Andrew informed
that this would be subtracted from the CARICOM national’s
pay whilst he/she was in the host country. “You
must pay social security while in the host country.
You don’t lose your NIS (National Insurance
Scheme), though, all these are added up for when you
go back home,” he said.
Mr. Mac Andrew also noted that for simplicity, there
might eventually be one social security scheme in
the region.
The discussion forum was held as part of the Secretariat’s
US$7 million regional education campaign, which includes
information-sharing visits to member states.
Salas Hamilton, communications specialist at the CSME
regional unit, informed that 81 per cent of Jamaicans
polled at a visit by the team last summer, had indicated
that they needed more information on the single market
and single economy. He said that the team would be
returning to Jamaica in the summer.
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