The first edition of the information workshop “My First Steps in Importing” was held on 12 October 2021 by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Guadeloupe Islands, project leader of the OHADAC project.

The CARO Centre gave a presentation of the legal section of the workshop. It was led jointly by Marie-Camille PITTON, Secretary-General of the CARO Centre, and Solène BALAGUETTE, Counsel at the CARO Centre.

A presentation of the legal, economic, regulatory, customs, fiscal and banking tools was given to Guadeloupean entrepreneurs willing to import into Guadeloupe, as a condition of success of their project.

The event brought together a diverse panel of speakers and the presentations were followed by a Q&A with the entrepreneurs attending.

In this way, the speakers could present issues specific to their business sectors and share their experience in importing to Guadeloupe.

A common case study helped to make a practical link between all the presented topics.

The speakers and topics covered were as follows:

• Ms Elcia GABALI, Consultant and Manager at GLC INTERNATIONAL, spoke about the basics of importing and about transport and logistics.
• Ms Danielle ALBINA-MAQUIABA, Manager of the Centre of Economic Information and Documentation (CIDE) at the Guadeloupe Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIIG), provided the commercial section with important information about sourcing and finding documents.
• Mr Matthieu TORET, a lawyer specialising in customs law and energy taxation at ENERLEX AVOCAT, was able to clarify some tax matters.
• Ms Laurence POINT, Manager of the Business Consulting Unit of the Economic Action Centre at the Regional Directorate for Customs and Indirect Taxes in Guadeloupe, led the customs section.
• Mr Louis COLLOMB, Chairman of the STCG (Union of Customs Agents in Guadeloupe), shared his experience of customs matters with the attendees.
• Ms Nita MINATCHY, Professional Development Manager, Guadeloupe - North Islands Commercial Management, Ms Mylène JACOBY-KOALY and Ms Ingrid DESIRE, both international business managers at CAISSE D'EPARGNE PROVENCE ALPES CORSE (CEPAC), were responsible for the banking section of the workshop.

The legal section had a dual objective:

• Presenting the tools necessary to guarantee the legal security of contracts and prevent disputes (insertion of retention of title clause, choice of law clause and OHADAC mediation and/or arbitration clauses).
• Presenting the CARO Centre, its legal integration mission in the Caribbean economic zone and its services of mediation and arbitration.

One of the highlights of the day was the opportunity for entrepreneurs to take part in individual B2B meetings with the speakers in the afternoon.

These meetings helped to better focus the needs of entrepreneurs when it comes to imports, better define the relevant and emerging sectors, and above all to present other types of collaborative services not related to disputes, such as expertise and facilitation, offered by the CARO Centre.

For more information, contact us at: secretariat@carohadac.org