Tickets not ready for ‘COVID law’ violation
More than five months after Parliament passed legislation to ticket persons for certain breaches of the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA), persons are still being locked up for offences such as failing to wear masks or breaching curfew.
Justice Minister Delroy Chuck said that the ticketing regime will come into being when the tax authority implements its electronic ticketing system.
“The problem is that Tax Administration Jamaica has indicated that until we have the electronic ticketing system it is likely to fail,” Chuck told THE STAR yesterday.
“The idea of ticketing is the person that is ticketed would pay at the tax offices, or pay online, but first, the tax offices are overcrowded. Second, there are frequent errors in the writing up of the ticket, and oftentimes persons who go to the tax office to pay, when the tax office checks, they can’t find the name of the person who is ticketed,” Chuck added.
FIXED PENALTIES
The Houses of Parliament passed legislation for the introduction of fixed penalties for persons who are deemed to be in breach of certain aspects of the DRMA. The fixed penalties, which are issued in the form of tickets, must be paid within 30 days, failing which a summons would be issued by the court for the person’s arrest.
There are 40 offences that attract fixed penalties, including the failure to maintain the six-feet physical distance. It attracts a $5,000 fine. The fine for failing to wear masks in public spaces is $5,000. The fine for staging small outdoor events is $20,000. Persons who fail to stay in their place of residence during a curfew will be hit with a fixed penalty of $10,000.
Chuck said that an electronic system at the tax offices would minimise errors that occur when writing a ticket.
“We had expected that the electronic ticketing would have come into operation during the month of September, but regrettably, the latest we have is that the suppliers have had some delay so I cannot tell you exactly when it will be coming,” Chuck said.