August 2nd, 2019: Customers who conduct business transactions at the Trade Licence Unit (TLU) of the Ministry of Trade and Industry will experience an improved and shorter service time when obtaining approvals for permits and licences to import items such as foreign used cars, air condition units, commercial vehicles and refrigerators. This improvement comes following the completion of a digitization project which involved eliminating the use of its inventory of paper-based files and implementing an electronic document management system at the Trade Licence Unit (TLU). The project which commenced in August 2018 and concluded in May 2019, included scanning, indexing and uploading 80,000 pages of current and historical data to an electronic database.
The Trade Licence Unit (TLU) of the Ministry of Trade and Industry is currently implementing several modernization activities geared toward providing faster and better quality service for members of the public. In 2012, the Unit was one of the first regulatory agencies to allow the online submission of applications for various permits and licences on the National Single Electronic Window (SEW) for Trade and Business Facilitation, branded TTBizLink at www.ttbizlink.gov.tt.
Currently, traders can apply to the TLU via TTBizLink for various Import Licences, Export Licences, Duty Relief Licences, Safeguard Certificates and Suspension Certificates. Additionally other reforms being implemented under the Strengthening of the Single Electronic Window for Trade and Business Facilitation Programme at the TLU include Business Process Re-engineering to further simplify and automate its operations; and a Redesign of its Institutional, Legislative and Governance Structures to better suit the demands of the global trading environment.
