B.C.C.I. Agrees that B.S.I. Commission of Inquiry Would be Invasive  

Last Friday, you heard from attorney for the American Sugar Refinery/Belize Sugar Industries Limited, Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith, who explained a court ruling that came against the government. It was the case of the Belize Sugar Industries Limited and the Corozal Sugar Cane Producers Association against the Attorney General, the Sugar Industry Control Board, the Minister of Agriculture and the Controller of Supplies. The claimants had filed an injunction to have the amended Sugar Industry Import/Export Regulation that was introduced in May of 2023 halted. And the court agreed with the basis of their argument: that the implications of the document, were it effected, would have been unreasonably invasive to the company. When he met with reporters, Smith also said that his view is that the Commission of Inquiry that the government has planned for B.S.I. would also unfairly delve into the company’s sensitive material that it has a right to keep private. And the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, B.C.C.I. has weighed in on that Commission of Inquiry as well.  In a letter addressed to Prime Minister John Briceño, President of the Chamber, Marcello Blake writes about the Chamber’s concern that the Inquiry would investigate the commercial arrangements between two private sector entities. Blake wrote that the government’s intention to conduct the inquiry indicated that the Commission would be convened to examine the modernization of the sugar industry and improve its viability. While the Chamber agrees that there is a need to modernize the sugar industry’s practices, it is of the view that any provision in the Commission’s Terms of Reference to empower it to investigate commercial arrangements between private entities risks setting an undesirable precedent. Quoting in part from Blake’s letter, it states,  “Such an action may be seen as an overreach of executive power and is likely to impact any gains made in improving Belize’s viability as an investment destination. Furthermore, the practice of using public resources to resolve commercial disputes involving private entities is not sustainable and parties in dispute must be facilitated to settle using available mechanisms”. The letter ends by suggesting alternative dispute resolution mechanisms as the best methods to resolve commercial disputes fairly and that parties to any commercial dispute should be encouraged to pursue this route.