Plant importer and other stakeholders, TTBizLink, Ministry of Trade, Investment and Tourism (MTTI) and the Plant Quarantine Services (PQS), Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) are pleased to announce, with immediate effect, the roll out of a streamlined application process for Plant Import Permit applications on the Single Electronic Window (SEW) for Trade and Business Facilitation.
In accordance with the Plant Protection Act Chapter 63:56, Plant Import Permits are required for plant and plant products and includes commodities ranging from live plants, all seeds for propagation, cut flowers and foliage, peas, beans, fruits, vegetables and lumber.
The streamlined process, which supports compliance and protection of the natural environment, ensures that Plant Import Permit applications for a given Country of Origin will be restricted only to commodities which have been assessed by the Pest Risk Analysis Unit, Research Division, MAF and officially approved for entry into Trinidad and Tobago. As such, when completing the online Plant Import Permit application on TTBizLink, the applicant will see only commodities that are approved for entry from the Country of Origin selected. If a commodity is not approved for entry into Trinidad and Tobago from the selected Country of Origin, that commodity will not appear in the relevant dropdown list. If the requested Country of Origin is not listed, applicants should contact the Pest Risk Analysis Unit, for their guidance on such an application, by calling 280-7938 or via email at pestriskanalysis@gov.tt.
TTBizLink and PQS also collaborated on automating the mapping of the conditions which are associated with any commodity approved for entry into Trinidad and Tobago. Approved applications will automatically have the correct listing of the conditions assigned to the commodity of the Plant Import Permit. Such conditions are measures which are critical to preventing the introduction and spread of insect pests, diseases, and weeds into the natural environment that can have harmful effects.
These refinements improve accuracy, transparency and efficiency, by streamlining commodity selection and automating the assignment of conditions. Further, these refinements reduce potential queries from the approximately three hundred (300) Plant Import Permit applications that are made to PQS each month via TTBizLink.
The MTTI and MAF, which have been partnering on TTBizLink since 2012, will continue their collaboration to ensure the streamlining of trade processes and protection of the country’s natural environment.
