How GOJ removal of CET from Phablets means CET-Free Tablets by Emancipation Day

“With the rapid changes in technology, it was felt that this classification was prejudicial as many of the Tablets had similar characteristics to Phablets. It was therefore felt in the interest of equity...that the classification for Phablets should be the same as that for Tablets”

Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Peter Phillips at the opening of the 2014/15 Budget Debate in Parliament on Thursday, April 17^th 2014

Folks, brace for the impending Bomb-rush of Digicel and LIME Stores this Summer 2014 by Tuesday July 1^st 2014!

This thanks the Council of Trade and Economic Development of CARICOM granting the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) permission to remove the 20% CET (Common External Tariff) on smartphones as reported in “Tariff Suspensions To Make Smartphones Cheaper For Jamaicans”, published Wednesday May 21, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Telecom Provider LIME already is announcing plans to drop the prices on smartphones long before Tuesday July 1^st 2014. Smartphones that are usually priced in the JA$10,000 range will see prices drop to as low as JA$6,995 as stated in “LIME Cuts Smartphone Prices Ahead Of Tax Removal”, published Monday May 26, 2014 6:17 pm, The Jamaica Gleaner. Telecom Provider Digicel may soon follow with an announcement of their own for the DL700 and possibly a new DL800 smartphone for the Summer!

This is exactly as I’d predicted would be needed to jumpstart a 4G LTE Broadband Revolution in Jamaica; cheaper devices, particularly smartphones and Tablets as opined in my blog article entitled “Digicel and LIME's 4G LTE Adoption in Jamaica – Budget Tablets with Microsoft Productivity Software spark Wireless Broadband Revolution”.

After all, it has already occurred with Alternative Energy Gear as stated in my blog article entitled “Common External Tariff Removed from Alternative Energy and Energy-Saving Devices - Prepaid Power realistically Possible as Electricity Thieves can seek Repentance by going Solar” , so why not with smartphone, Phablets and by extension Tablets?

Cheaper Phablets was the start – Removal of Tariff on Tablets should be next

A month earlier, Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Peter Phillips had announced the removal of the CET on Phablets at the opening of the 2014/15 Budget Debate in Parliament on Thursday, April 17th 2014 as  reported in “No Custom Duty on ‘Phablets’”, published Sunday, April 20, 2014 2:12 PM, The Jamaica Observer with the Horses’ mouth, the JIS (The Jamaica Information Service) in the article “No Custom Duties on Phablets”, published April 22, 2014 By Alecia Smith-Edwards, The Jamaica Information Service bring the Calvary!

At the time, I’d ignored it at the time, merely archiving the article. After all, I reasoned, why would anyone in Jamaica want a Phablet as despite their growing global popularity up north as noted in my blog article entitled "Samsung Galaxy Note III is an excellent alternative to the Apple iPhone - Phablet competition from the HTC One Max and the Sony Xperia Z Ultra signals long lasting trend", they're a throwback to the larger cellular phone devices of yesteryear.

That's a definite fashion no-no for the image conscious in Jamaica and the Trendsetters that are bound to get you locked up by the Fashion Police and singled out by our local Paparazzi! Worse, you’ll be unable to get RSVP’s to parties and events on Jamaica’s packed Social Calendar!

But the devil is always in the details, it seems! Turns out the removal of the CET on Phablets actually relates to regular smartphones as well, by default if you read Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of Finance Budget Presentation 2014.

According to Minister of Finance Dr. Peter Phillips, Phablets are indistinguishable from smartphones or regular Tablets, due to their ginormous proportions. So the JCA (Jamaica Customs Agency) had decided to classify under Tariff Heading 8517 and Tariff Heading 8471.

Effectively, Phablets were a dual-citizen; CET was collected for the device being a smarftphone under Tariff Heading 8517 but not for being a Tablet, which under Tariff Heading 8471 made them appear to be Laptops and thus no CET was collected for that particular feature.

20% is still a hefty burden to bear. With no clear guidelines from the WCO (World Customs Organization) the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) went ahead and created their OWN description of the Phablets by amending Tariff Heading 8471 with a new sub-section for Phablets, Tariff Heading 847130.  Tariff Heading 847130 classifies Phablets as thus, quote: “portable automatic data processing machines, weighing not more than 10 kilograms, consisting of at least a central processing unit, a keyboard and a display”.

This means that now that it has its own unique Tariff Heading, it no longer has to be a dual-citizen with held the rights. Now, the CET on Phablets vanished altogether by Thursday May 1^st 2014, as basically Tariff Heading 847130 classifies Phablets as a portable Laptop!

But that means smartphones, which fell under Tariff Heading 8517, were being unfairly taxed as many of them, via their largess, were effectively mini-Tablets in their own right. Just a well, as Phablets or even smartphones with at least 5" screens are useful for Teaching, even at schools in parishes as far away as St. Elizabeth as stated in “Smartphone as teaching tool”, published Monday, April 21, 2014, The Jamaica Observer.

So this CET on smartphones will also vanish on Tuesday July 1^st 2014.

Call for a Removal of the CET on Tablets – September Test Pilot Project for Tablets is Coming      

With the Hurricane Season set to start officially on Sunday June 1^st 2014 as pointed out in my blog article entitled “2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season looking Fairly Quiet - How Hurricanes are formed as Hurricane making Landfall equals Disaster” and the Summer Solstice set to start on Saturday June 21^st 2014, a Sale on smartphones is expected and most welcome by most Teenagers (ages 13 to 17) and Millennials (ages 18 to 28) saving up their JA$10,000 to buy a smartphone. 

Parents should also have concern to be hopeful. Smartphones are useful for Teaching. But Tablets are even moreso.

Especially as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science, Technology Energy and Mining has plans to introduce Tablets in High Schools starting with a Test Pilot in Academic Year 2014/2015 which starts September 2014 and ends June 2015 as stated in my blog article entitled “Ministry of Science and Technology signs four Contractors in March 2014 to procure Tablets - Test Pilot Project in September 2014 means Teachers can monetize e-books”.

Thus we may be looking at yet another Tariff rollback by August 2014, possibly to coincide with Emancipation Day, which will be celebrated on Friday August 1^st 2014. If Tablets are to be used in the Teaching of Classes and by students, they have to be cheap enough that many parents can afford the subsidized price of JA$5000.

Even better, if by then, e-books exist that can replace the purchasing of Textbooks in High School, then we may be looking at not only a flood of purchasing of smartphones, Phablets and Tablets but also a renaissance of e-book publishers as Teachers rush to make content to be used on these devices to educate the Next Generation!