The Jamaican Free Zones are a government initiative to encourage foreign investment. Businesses operating within these zones have no tax on their profits, duty exemption on imports and exports, and relaxed customs procedures. However, they must export 85% of their produce outside of CARICOM. A tax is an involuntary fee paid by individuals or businesses to a state, or to functional equivalents of a state, including tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements. ... The Caribbean Community and Common Market or CARICOM was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas which came into effect on August 1, 1973. ...

Created under the Jamaica Export Free Zones Act the zones are operated by the government. Businesses that operate in the zones must be in the fields of warehousing and storing, manufacturing, redistribution, processing, refining, assembling, packaging, and also service operations. These businesses gain 100% tax holiday in perpetuity, no import licensing requirements, and exemption from customs duties on capital goods, raw materials, construction materials, and office equipment.

Jamaica has four free trade zones but companies outside of the zones can apply for Free Zone status as Single Entity Free Zones. The government initially used the zones to promote the garment and related industry, this push expanded to information technology in the 1990s with addition clauses added to the act in 1996. Free trade zones, also called free trade areas or export processing zones, designate either parts of a country or groups of countries that have agreed to eliminate tariffs, quotas and preferences on most goods between them. ...

From 1985-1995 the combined export output of the zones in textiles was US $1.31 billion. Around 12,000 people were employed in the textile factories, about 1.6% of the total workforce. However since 1995 the industry has been in a serious depression due to structural problems in Jamaica and increased foreign competition.

The first free zone created was the Kingston Free Zone (KFZ) in 1976 on ground adjacent to the Kingston Container Terminal. The 180,000 square metre site contains 72,835 square metres of factory space. The other major free zones are Montego Bay Free Zone (MBFZ), Garmex Free Zone, Hayes Free Zone, and Cazoumar Free Zone. Location of Kingston Kingston (population 600,000) is the capital of Jamaica. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

WTO rule changes agreed at Doha will end export subsidies in 2007. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization which oversees a large number of agreements defining the rules of trade between its member states (WTO, 2004a). ...

The free zones have been attacked as US subsidised "sweatshops", the minimum wage is US $30 a week. A sweatshop is a factory, where people work for a very small wage, producing products such as clothes, toys, shoes, and other consumer goods. ... The minimum wage is the minimum rate a worker can legally be paid (usually per hour) as opposed to wages that are determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market. ...

See also

free trade zone Free trade zones, also called free trade areas or export processing zones, designate either parts of a country or groups of countries that have agreed to eliminate tariffs, quotas and preferences on most goods between them. ...

External link

• Link2exports Export Country Profiles (http://www.link2exports.co.uk/) Export Zone - Country Profiles, is part of the Official British Chamber of Commerce Export Zone, it provides a comprehensive overview of every country in the world and includes demographic, political, social and financial overviews along with details of trade missions and essential business contacts.

• Article at HierarchyPedia (http://www.hierarchypedia.com/wiki/index.php/Jamaican_Free_Trade_Zones)