• A cover letter, written on the Company's letterhead, must be submitted with a completed "Suspension of the Common External Tariff (CET)" form to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment.
• The form, which can be downloaded using the link below or obtained from the Trade Licence Unit of the Ministry, must contain the information listed in the "Required Information" section in this page.
• An officer from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment's Industry Unit will examine the written request and request omitted or additional information, if necessary. In addition, the Ministry may also conduct a visit to the business's site.
• The request is then forwarded to the CARICOM Secretariat, which takes a minimum of 14 working days to review the request and make a final determination.
• The business will be notified by phone within two to three working days of approval that the Suspension Certificate is ready for collection. If the certificate is refused, the business will also be informed by telephone.

List down the documents required for successfully completing the procedure.

e.g.
1. Proof of child birth from the Hospital.

Permanent Secretary

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment

Trade Licence Unit

Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers' Association (TTMA) Building

42 Tenth Avenue, Ground floor

Barataria

Trinidad, West Indies

Tel. (868) 674-3545 or (868) 675-8242

Fax. (868) 675-5465

E-mail: tlicencing@tradeind.gov.tt

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, except public holidays.

Any business legally registered in Trinidad and Tobago can apply for a Suspension Certificate. Please follow the link below for information on registering a business.

There are no fees associated with the processing of an application for a Suspension Certificate.

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

http://www.gov.tt/gortt/wcm/connect/1db606004b2a074ab5c7ff63be472f22/Suspension_of_Common_External_Tariff.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=-1887099934&CACHEID=1db606004b2a074ab5c7ff63be472f22

Please attach sample completed documents which would help other people who would like to follow this procedure.    

The timeframe from submission of the request to a final decision can vary from two to four weeks, depending on the following factors:

• Whether a site visit is to be made.
• Whether a Minister's Duty Relief Licence application is made at the same time.
• Whether a prompt response is received from the CARICOM Secretariat.

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Please provide instructions on obtaining the certificate/documents.
e.g. The state office holds birth records since january 1908.

• Name and address of individual or company.
• Tariff heading number.
• Description of goods to be imported, including quantity, estimated value and technical specifications.
• CET rate applied.
• Period of rate change requested.
• Reason for request.
• Efforts made to source goods from within CARICOM.

Businesses in Trinidad and Tobago generally import certain goods from other countries within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) free of duty. In respect of goods imported from countries outside of CARICOM, a Common External Tariff (CET) is applied.

Businesses may, however, be granted temporary authorisation to import products from extra-regional sources at a lower or zero rate of duty in the following situations:

• The product is not being produced in CARICOM.
• The product being produced in CARICOM does not satisfy the demand of the Community.
• The quality of the product produced in CARICOM is lower than the Community standard.

In order to obtain temporary authorisation, an application must be made for a Certificate of Suspension of the CET from CARICOM.

Enter other informations which might help

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

Place some external links which might help

More information which might help people.