towards a revision of tariff protection on imported products (the dock dues)?

2023-07-18 05:26:00

He made himself desired. Repeatedly postponed, it was to be held on June 12, the interministerial committee for Overseas Territories (CIOM) is to take place on Tuesday. In 2022, the presidents of the regions of Guadeloupe, Réunion, Mayotte, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Guyana, had signed the call from Fort-de-France, ” asking to meet the president to discuss a profound change in policy » aid for the development of their territories stricken by poverty, and solutions to the problems specific to the French overseas, which might go as far as a constitutional reform.

Overseas: a senatorial report points to an exacerbated territorial discontinuity (Air France, Corsair, Air Caraïbes, Air Austral, Frenchbee)

Make community action more effective

At the end of a meeting in September with some fifty elected officials from the communities of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, Emmanuel Macron had indicated that he intended to give these communities “thes leeway needed to invent tailor-made solutions to security and high cost of living issues affecting their territories. ” The proactive approach undertaken by the government and elected officials in the coming weeks will have the task of identifying the legislative and regulatory measures, both national and local, likely to make the action of local authorities more effective, while respecting the skills of each and taking into account the specificities of each territory, a roadmap on a timetable, concrete actions and investments by territory will be built on this basis “, had then underlined the Elysée.

A reform ” in depth » dock dues

The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, indicated that he was going to propose a reform ” in depth » of the dock dues, tariff protection on products imported into the Overseas Territories, during this Ciom.

A person close to the case clarifies: “ its primary objective, which was to protect local production, has been replaced by “I tax everything that comes in”. If the hospital imports an MRI device, it pays dock dues. If a painter, who has not sold his painting in mainland France, brings it back overseas, he pays dock dues. no longer has anything to do with the defense of local production. This being said, this system has a considerable advantage: it finances local authorities ».

And still according to this source, if inflation in the Overseas Territories is “ lower than in France », elle « affects a population that is often already financially fragile and increases price levels that are already higher than those in France “. The government has therefore improved the BQP, a quality-price abacus that allows prefects to integrate throughout the year – and no longer once a year – categories of products on which producers and distributors are committed. Beyond basic necessities, it also includes everyday products (BQP+).

Adapting to climate change, which is hitting the Overseas territories hard, as well as territorial continuity thwarted by the increase in the price of plane tickets are all subjects of concern for the overseas territories.