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Import licences continue to be required for used motor vehicles (for personal use). Conditions include that they must: be right-hand-drive vehicles; be less than four years old; have a petrol engine; and have ozone-friendly refrigerants in the air-conditioning system. (...)

Exports requiring a licence remain largely the same as at the time of the previous Review; the only changes have been to add waste and scrap of lead-acid batteries to the list in 2012, and various ODSs in 2014 (Table 3.8). (...)

Exports requiring a licence, 2018
Description of goods Reason for licence
Coral and other aquatic life found in the county's marine environment, including turtles, turtle eggs, aquarium fish, fish, molluscs, lobster, shrimp, crabs and other aquatic invertebrates Protection of local heritage
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All plant species, including tissue culture and other propagation material thereof, that are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) Protection of local heritage
All animal species listed in the CITES, as well as all endangered species of Trinidad and Tobago, whether live specimens, their parts, or derivatives, whether mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish or invertebrate Protection of local heritage
Waste and scrap of lead-acid batteries, whether whole or crushed, used lead-acid batteries Miscellaneous
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FTZ operations, 2018
Number of FTZ companies: 16 enterprises (1 of which is an FTZ operator).
Total employment: Around 1,500 workers.
Permitted activities: Warehousing and storage; manufacturing operations; transhipment operations; loading and unloading; export and import; service operations including banking, insurance and professional services; packaging and shipping; assembling; processing, refining, purifying and mixing; and merchandising, including international trading of products.
Restricted activities: Primary petroleum and natural gas projects. Free-zone enterprises may only sell up to 20% of goods in the customs territory of Trinidad and Tobago, and may not carry out other activities in the customs territory.
Benefits: Tax exemptions granted indefinitely (on import duties, land and building taxes, business levy, corporation tax, income tax, withholding tax, VAT, work permit fees, and green levy fund). Import and export licensing requirements are waived.

VAT is applied on both imported products and domestically produced ones (...). Some products and services are zero-rated, while others are exempt from VAT. In 2016, the VAT Act (Amendment to Schedule 2) Order listed 43 products and services that are subject to zero-rated VAT. They include agricultural products; natural gas; crude oil; iron ore; steel band instruments; salted fish; solar water heaters; photovoltaic cells; wind turbines; equipment used in the energy sector;

New developments since 2012 in the area of taxation include:
(…)
f. the introduction of an environmental tax on imports of used tyres in December 2017 (Section 3.1.3.11).

Incentives, 2018
Sector, and incentive programmes Act
Renewable energy incentives VAT Act, Income Tax Act, Finance Act No.13 of 2010

(...). Also, despite exemptions from customs duties on electric vehicles (with engine size of less than 179 kW) and hybrid vehicles (with engine size of less than 1999 cc) (Section 3.1) with the intention of increasing the supply of fuel efficient and clean energy vehicles, there was an unintended consequence, as individuals have taken advantage of the tax waivers on hybrids to import luxury vehicles. Against this background, in the 2018 Budget Statement, the Government decided to extend the tax waiver to CNG passenger vehicles with an engine size of less than 1599 cc.

As specified in the Standards Act, technical regulations are adopted to protect the consumer or user against danger to health or safety; protect public or industrial health, welfare or safety; protect the environment;(...)

Standards in force, 2018
Total standards Technical regulations Voluntary standards
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Environment 18 1 17
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Renewable energy systems 4 1 3
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