Imports

Help and Information

The staff of Customs and Border Control will help you in every reasonable way to obtain your rights and to understand and meet your obligations under the Customs and Border Control Act. So that they can do this, Officers are entitled to expect that your declaration will give them the full facts they need to decide how much duty you should pay.

Courtesy and Consideration

The staff of Customs and Border Control will at all times carry out their duties courteously, considerately and promptly.

Fairness

You will have your liability for duty decided impartially and be required to pay no more than the act requires.

You will be treated in the same way as other importers in similar circumstances. You will be presumed to have been honest in your dealings with Customs and Border Control, unless there is reason to believe otherwise.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Information about your business affairs supplied to Customs and Border Control will be treated in strict confidence and used only for purposes allowed by the act.

Costs of Compliance

In applying the act, Customs and Border Control will recognize the need to minimize the costs you incur, subject to their responsibility to collect efficiently and economically the duty that is due from you.

Duty Exemptions and Reliefs

The Customs and Border Control Act provides for the grant of a number of different kinds of exemption or relief from import duty for certain special classes of importation. Particulars are given below of the main provisions. More detailed information can be found in Second Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act. Details about conditions, which may be attached to duty exemptions or reliefs, can be obtained from the Customs and Border Control Service.

Temporary Imports

Goods, which are temporarily imported for a specified period (not normally exceeding six months), may be eligible for duty free importation, subject to certain conditions, which may include a deposit of duty or a guarantee to cover the duty at risk. Application for temporary importation facilities must be made to the Director of Customs and Border Control at the Administrative Offices at 42 Owen Roberts Drive, Grand Cayman. The request for temporary import MUST be made before the goods are delivered out of Customs charge.

Duty Franchises and Other Special Duty Reliefs

Section 52 of the Customs and Border Control Act provides that the Cabinet may in any particular case, waive, reduce or order refund of, any duty or package tax or part thereof, which would otherwise be payable or would not be liable to refund under the act. Use is made of this provision from time to time to grant “franchises” to particular importers in circumstances in which it is in the best interests of the economy of the country to do so. Persons who consider that they might be entitled to request such exceptional treatment should consult the Customs and Border Control Service in the first instance. Rigorous conditions may be attached to any such duty relief.

Re-Imported (Unprocessed) Goods

Goods which can be shown to the satisfaction of the Customs and Border Control Officer to have been previously imported on payment of the duty due (which has not since then been repaid, as drawback or otherwise) and not to have been repaired or otherwise processed while abroad or to have changes to their form or character may be entitled to be imported free, or partially free, of any charge to duty.

Importers who consider that they have a claim to this duty relief should consult the Customs and Border Control Service.

Goods Re-Imported After Processing Abroad

Provided that proper notice is given at the time of exportation and certain other conditions are observed, importers who can establish to the satisfaction of the Customs and Border Control Service that their goods are being re-imported after having been repaired, restored or otherwise processed abroad without having substantially changed their form or character and that any duty chargeable on them before their exportation was duty paid and has not since been refunded may be entitled to pay duty only on the cost of process or repair which has been under taken whilst the goods were abroad. Freight and insurance will be included in the costs on which Customs duty will be assessed.

Importers wanting more information about this provision should consult the Customs and Border Control Service.

Repayment Provisions

In certain circumstances a “drawback” or other form of repayment of duty previously paid may be payable.

DRAWBACK is payable on the following classes of goods, provided that the goods concern have not been in the islands for two years or more, and have not been used during that time; that they would, if sold realize more than the amount of drawback claimed; that the amount claimed exceeds $10.00; and that the payment of drawback is made within one year of exportation:

Goods re-exported in the packages in which imported; Goods exported as ships or aircraft stores; Spirits and wines sold to passengers about to depart from the islands; Goods deposited in a bonded warehouse.

REFUND: Subject to certain conditions, the importer may be eligible to claim from the Customs and Border Control Service a repayment of duty paid by him on imported goods where he can show to their satisfaction:

• That the goods were imported in pursuance of a contract of sale and that their description, quantity, state or condition was not in accordance with that contract, or that the goods were damaged in transit; and
• That he, with the seller’s consent, either returned the goods unused to the seller, after duty entering the goods for exportation, or destroyed the goods with Customs agreement.

This provision does not in any way entitle importers to a refund of duty on goods imported on “sale or return” or similar terms.

Prohibitions and Restrictions

The Customs and Border Control Service is responsible, among other things, for the enforcement of certain import and export prohibitions, including the control of firearms and prohibited dangerous drugs.

The statutory authority for a number of prohibitions and restrictions is provided in Section 12 of the Customs and Border Control Act and the Customs (Prohibited Goods Order).

The remainder is from other legislation such as:

• The Misuse of Drugs Act
• The Firearms Act
• The Plants Act
• The Animals Act
• The Endangered Species Protection & Propagation Act
• The Penal Code Act
• The Traffic Act

VHF Radios, Radar and CB Radios

Importers of radio or radar apparatus must be in possession of the relevant license permit or certificate, except where exempted. Please contact the Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control for further information.

Marine Radios

The import of marine radio transmitting equipment for operation in the A.M. mode only within the bands 1605 and 4000 kHz is prohibited.

Any other Act that Restricts or Prohibits the import or export of certain goods, and any other goods that may be prescribed by the Governor and Cabinet from time to time.

Any violation of these prohibitions laid down in the Customs and Border Control Act or in any other enactments, could result in the prosecution of the offender, with heavy penalties and imprisonment.