The Jamaican Free Zones are a government

free trade zone A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to cu ...

initiative in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. Designed to encourage foreign investment and

international trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...

, businesses operating within these zones have no tax on their profits, and are exempted from customs

duties A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...

on imports and exports (capital goods, raw materials, construction materials, and

office equipment Office supplies are consumables and equipment regularly used in offices by businesses and other organizations, by individuals engaged in written communications, recordkeeping or bookkeeping, janitorial and cleaning, and for storage of supplies o ...

) and import licensing requirements. They must export 85 percent of their products outside the

Caribbean Community The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organization that is a political and economic union of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) throughout the Caribbean. They have primary objectives to promote econo ...

(CARICOM).

Free trade zones

There are five Jamaican Free Zones: *Kingston Free Zone (KFZ) in Kingston was established in 1976 on land adjacent to the Kingston Container Terminal. It was the first free zone established in Jamaica. The site contains of factory space. *Montego Bay Free Zone (MBFZ) in Montego Bay was established in 1985 on a site southwest of the city. It has of factory/office space. An additional of space is being added specifically for information technology.http://www.american.edu/initeb/js1513a/geo.htm *Garmex Free Zone *Hayes Free Zone *Cazoumar Free Zone Kingston and Montego Bay Free Zones are government owned, while Cazoumar is privately owned. Companies outside the zones can apply for free zone status as ''Single Entity Free Zones''. Created under the Jamaica Export Free Zones Act, the zones are operated by the government. The zones were initially used to promote

textile manufacturing Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

and related industries. The program has been expanded to include information technology, with addition clauses added to the act in 1996. Businesses that operate in the zones must be in the fields of manufacturing, warehousing and storage, distribution,

processing Processing is a free graphical library and integrated development environment (IDE) built for the electronic arts, new media art, and visual design communities with the purpose of teaching non-programmers the fundamentals of computer programming ...

, refining, assembly, packaging, or service operations. From 1985 to 1995 the combined export output of the zones in textiles was

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1.31 billion. Around 12,000 people were employed in the textile factories, about 1.6 percent of the total workforce. Since 1995 the industry has been in a serious depression due to structural problems in Jamaica and increased foreign competition.

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...

rule changes agreed at the

Doha Development Round The Doha Development Round or Doha Development Agenda (DDA) is the trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which commenced in November 2001 under then director-general Mike Moore. Its objective was to lower trade barriers ...

will end

export subsidies Export subsidy is a government policy to encourage export of goods and discourage sale of goods on the domestic market through direct payments, low-cost loans, tax relief for exporters, or government-financed international advertising. An export ...

in 2007. The free zones have been criticized as United States of America-subsidized

sweatshop A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, o ...

s. The 2001 documentary film '' Life and Debt'' features interviews with free zone workers, as well as with several prominent critics such as

Michael Manley Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been ...

(the former

Prime Minister of Jamaica The prime minister of Jamaica is Jamaica's head of government, currently Andrew Holness. Holness, as leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), was sworn in as prime minister on 7 September 2020, having been re-elected as a result of t ...

), that support this view.

References

{{Jamaica topics Special economic zones Economy of Jamaica

Free trade zones

See also

References