RAMPS Logistics issued with Local Content Certificate in keeping with Court order

RAMPS one of the first companies that applied for the certificate following the activation of the Local Content legislation. However, its first application was denied and when the company reapplied, it never received a response to its application, forcing the decision to move to the Court for a judicial review.

RAMPS Logistics issued with Local Content Certificate in keeping with Court order

The Local Content Secretariat followed the Chief Justice’s Friday order and this morning issued the RAMPS Logistics company with a Local Content Certificate.

On Friday, Acting Chief Justice Roxane George ordered the Local Content Secretariat to issue the certificate to the company by 12 noon today.

Just after 11:30 this morning, RAMPS received the certificate, which allows it to work fully in the oil and gas sector.

RAMPS one of the first companies that applied for the certificate following the activation of the Local Content legislation. However, its first application was denied and when the company reapplied, it never received a response to its application, forcing the decision to move to the Court for a judicial review.

The Chief Justice in her ruling found that the Local Content Secretariat had breached the Local Content Act when it refused to issue Ramps Logistics with a Certificate of Registration though it reached the 51% requirement with regards to Guyanese ownership.

“The applicant has satisfied the statutory requirements and preconditions necessary for the grant or issuance of a certificate of registration under Section 6 (2) of the Local Content Act,” the Chief Justice ruled while adding that both the Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat and the Local Content Secretariat have breached the Act.

The Chief Justice, in handing down her decision, also said that the Minister of Natural Resources and the Local Content Secretariat had woefully fallen short in countering the application filed by the logistics company.

Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George

The Chief Justice also declared that the Local Content Act was deficient and had no rules and no regulations. She highlighted a number of requirements that were being demanded by the Secretariat that were not part of the Act.

RAMPS Logistics has been operating in Guyana for almost a decade and has grown into one of the largest logistics company in the country serving the oil and gas sector. The company is originally from Trinidad and Tobago.

However, following the passage of the Local Content legislation, the company got a Guyanese national to buy into a majority of its shares for the Guyana company in keeping with the requirements of the legislation.

The company currently employs hundreds of Guyanese nationals in key senior and junior positions. More than 95% of its workforce is Guyanese.

The company’s Chairman had complained in the press that he believes there were attempts by dark forces in Guyana’s private sector attempting to prevent the company’s expansion and growth in Guyana’s oil and gas sector.

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