LPG Companies Now Free to Import Following Court Ruling

There has been a shift in Belize’s liquified petroleum gas landscape yet again. Viewers may recall that back in 2019, the Government of Belize passed the National Liquified Gas Project Act in tandem with the establishment of National Gas Company Limited.  Long-established LPG dealers were technically boxed out from the wholesale business and relegated to selling LPG on the retail market. As a result, Gas Tomza Limited, Western Gas Company Limited, Southern Choice Butane and Belize Western Energy Limited took the Government of Belize to court for breach of their constitutional right to property. In 2022, the High Court ordered the government to pay more than ten million dollars in compensation to the companies for damages. But what those companies truly wanted was for the law to be struck out so that they could resume importing LPG. Well, the matter was taken to the Court of Appeals and the four companies were successful in having that aspect of the legislation repealed. The group of companies was represented by four attorneys, including Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith, who spoke with us today about this latest ruling.

 

Godfrey Smith S.C., Attorney-at-law

“The upshot of the judgement, perhaps three takeaways, one that the National Liquified Petroleum Gas Project Act, passed by the government in 2019 and amended in 2021 has been ruled by the Court of Appeal to be in breach of Gas Tomza and the other gas companies, of their right to property and their right to work. That is two. The third important take away is that requirement in the amendment to the law that says if you want to import LPG into Belize you must have storage facility of a minimum of one point five million U.S gallons to be able to get permission to import LPG. The governments attempted to say well we are not breaching anybody’s rights because you are free providing you build a storage facility of one point five million, clearly the argument was that was impractical, impossible and cant be reached and it effectively stimies your right to work, your right to freely be an importer of LPG and the court upheld that. So, as it stands therefore based on our interpretation of the judgment, Gas Tomza and the other litigants would now be free to build a storage capacity within their economic cost, within their reach that they are able to build and apply for permission to bring in LPG.”