Scrap Iron Dealers Urged To Register Amid Concerns Over Unregulated Foreign Operators

Minister of Trade and Industry, Paula Gopee-Scoon, is urging the T&T Scrap Iron Dealers Association to get its members registered. On Tuesday, the Minister responded to complaints by the Association that foreigners are conducting unregulated business in Trinidad and Tobago, and the non-compliance of scrap iron collectors has become a hindrance to regulate the sector. "Almost all of the collectors are unregistered so we have a problem and we’ve got to fix it." Minister Gopee-Scoon said a legal system needs to be put in place and the Government has done its part to ensure that one can be implemented. "To cure that, and this is what the Ministry and the Government has been trying to do, is to put an entirely formal system in place, a legal system in place for collectors and dealers. We have not been able, with the best of intentions, we have put past the policy, we have passed the legislation, and we’ve not been getting the Dealers to get their collectors registered so it's free season." Minister Gopee-Scoon said without a legal system in place, nothing much can be done to treat with the issue. "So I don’t know how the Scrap Iron Dealers expects the Ministry to attend to the collectors who operate under the foreign dealers and not attend to the collectors who operate under the local dealers. It has to be equitable and that’s how we operate in the Government. The law is an equitable law so as I see it, it's very difficult to give any attention to what the Scrap Iron Dealers wants us to do. They have to comply with the law first and foremost." Responding to the Minister in a Media Conference on Wednesday, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Scrap Iron Dealers Association, Allan Ferguson, said the Association is willing to work with Government, and they’re hoping their concern of foreigners operating in T&T without a license be investigated. "We is willing to work with your Government. We never say we don't want to work with your Government. When we went and protest, we never come by the Ministry and protest. We went by a yard that we think operating in not a way it is supposed to operate, and that is why we want to protect our industry. We want to protect our industry from people who we don’t even know have a criminal record." The Association continues to urge all scrap iron dealers to register with TTSIDA.