Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2023)

Schedule

(Section 29)

PART 1
REGISTRATION OF HOLDINGS

PART 2
REGISTRATION OF HOLDINGS

PART 3
THE UNDERTAKING

PART 4
PAYMENT OF STATUTORY BENEFIT

PART 5
CONTRACTUAL INSURANCE AND BENEFIT

PART 6
RETURNS, TRIBUNALS AND REVIEWS

PART 7
CESS

WINDWARD ISLANDS BANANA INSURANCE REGULATIONS

PART 1
REGISTRATION OF HOLDINGS

1.   Citation

These Regulations may be cited as the Windward Islands Banana Insurance Regulations.

2.   Interpretation

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

“Act” means the Windward Islands Banana Insurance Act;

“applicable provisions” means the provisions of the Act and Regulations made thereunder governing, as the case may be any aspect of—

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   (a)     the return claiming statutory benefit,

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   (b)     the inspections required to be made on receipt of such return and the report of the inspectors after completion of such inspections,

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   (c)     the assessment required to be made by the Authority after receipt of such report,

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   (d)     the establishment of a tribunal for the purpose of the review of such assessment and the report of such tribunal, and

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   (e)     the effect of such report of such assessment;

“application for registration” means application in accordance with these regulations for registration of a parcel or parcels of land as a holding;

“application for review” means application in accordance with these regulations for the review by the appropriate tribunal of an assessment;

“appropriate agent” means in relation to any function or matter, the person authorised by the Authority or the local authority as the case may be, to exercise that function or deal with that matter for and on behalf of the Authority or the local authority;

“contract of insurance” means a contract entered into between the Authority and an assured for the insurance of his or her plant mats against loss.

PART 2
REGISTRATION OF HOLDINGS

3.   Registration and application therefor

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   (1)   Any person who desires to register any parcel or parcels of land as a holding shall make application therefor in duplicate in the form and manner and containing the particulars set out in Form I in Schedule 1 to these Regulations.

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   (2)   Every application for registration shall be delivered at the office of the Authority to its appropriate agent.

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   (3)   Immediately upon delivery of any application for registration in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Part of these regulations, the appropriate agent shall acknowledge receipt of the application by affixing at the foot of the original and duplicate copy of the application his or her signature and the date thereof and shall thereupon return the duplicate copy of the application to its bearer.

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   (4)   The Authority shall cause a proper record to be kept of the originals of all applications for registration.

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   (5)   A parcel of land shall be deemed to be registered as a holding from the moment of acknowledgement of receipt of the application for registration thereof in accordance with the provisions of subregulations (1), (2) and (3).

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   (6)   Parcels of land which before the coming into effect of these regulations were treated by the Authority as holdings shall be deemed to have been registered under these Regulations.

4.   Cancellation of registration

Should the Authority discover a misrepresentation in any material particular in any application for registration, the Authority may, by notice served upon the grower, cancel the registration of the holding to which such application relates, and immediately upon service of such notice such parcel or parcels of land shall cease to be a holding.

5.   Issue of registration cards

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   (1)   Upon being satisfied as to the truth of the matter stated in any application for registration, the Authority shall without delay issue to the grower a numbered registration card, which shall contain the names and addresses of the grower and the registered number of the holding to which such application relates.

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   (2)   Cards shall be issued free of charge, but in the event of the loss of a card, the Authority may, on the application of the grower and on payment to the Authority of the sum of $0.25, issue a fresh card in substitution of the lost card.

6.   Possession of cards

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   (1)   A person shall not be or remain in possession of a numbered registration card issued under this Part of these regulations except the following persons namely—

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      (a)     the grower;

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      (b)     an authorised agent of the grower;

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      (c)     the local authority;

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      (d)     the Authority;

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      (e)     an authorised agent of the Authority or the local authority.

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   (2)   The Authority or any authorised agent of the Authority may impound and retain any registration card which was found to be in the possession of any person other than a person entitled to hold such a card by virtue of the provisions of subregulation (1).

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   (3)   The onus shall be on the person who sets himself or herself up as an agent of any grower to prove his or her agency for the purposes of subregulation (1).

7.   Functions of and duties with regard to cards

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   (1)   A registration card shall, so long as the same remains in force, be deemed to be confirmation and conclusive evidence of the registration of the holding to which it relates.

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   (2)   Any person who offers bananas for sale to the local authority, whether at a buying point or at a reception station, or to a dealer shall at the time of such offer, produce for inspection by the local authority or its appropriate agent, the numbered registration card with respect to the holding whence such bananas were reaped.

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   (3)   If a grower offers bananas for sale to the local authority or its appropriate agent and at the time of such offer fails to produce the numbered registration card with respect to the holding whence such bananas were reaped, the local authority or its appropriate agent shall be entitled to reject such offer or to accept same and postpone payment thereunder until good and sufficient cause for the non-production of that registration card shall have been proved to the satisfaction of the local authority or its appropriate agent.

8.   Transfer of possession or control of holdings

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   (1)   The personal representative of a deceased grower shall, so long as the deceased grower's holding remains vested by law in such personal representative, be deemed to be substituted for the deceased grower as the grower.

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   (2)   On the transfer of possession or control of a holding or any part thereof, the person who was the grower immediately before the transfer shall, within 14 days of the transfer, notify the Authority of that transfer and hand over to the Authority the registration card with respect to that holding.

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   (3)   Upon receipt of notification of a transfer of possession or control of a holding or any part thereof as provided for in this Part of these regulations, the Authority shall cancel or revoke the registration card issued with respect to that holding and thereupon that registration card shall cease to be in force.

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   (4)   In the absence of receipt of notification of transfer as provided for in this Part of these regulations the Authority may, if the Authority has reason to believe that a transfer of possession or control of any holding has in fact been effected, serve notice, upon the person who was the grower immediately before such transfer, of the Authority's intention to cancel or revoke the registration card issued with respect to that holding, and if the grower fails within 14 days after service of such notice to prove to the satisfaction of the Authority that no such transfer has in fact been effected, the registration card issued with respect to that holding shall stand cancelled or revoked and shall cease to be in force.

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   (5)   In any case where a registration card has been revoked or cancelled by virtue of the provisions of this Part of these regulations, the Authority shall issue a fresh registration card or cards in favour of the new grower or growers in substitution of the card so revoked or cancelled.

9.   Annual Statements

Every grower shall not later than 28 February in each year deliver at the office of the Authority to the Authority's appropriate agent, a statement in the form and manner and containing the particulars set out in Form II in Schedule 1.

PART 3
THE UNDERTAKING

10.   Form and particulars of the undertaking

Any undertaking which a grower may be required to enter into as a condition for the receipt of statutory benefit shall be in the form and shall contain the particulars set out in Form I in Schedule 2.

PART 4
PAYMENT OF STATUTORY BENEFIT

11.   Payment by instalments

Statutory benefits may be paid in equal instalments not exceeding 4 in number extending over a period not longer than 3 months.

However, any instalment other than the first instalment may be withheld from a grower who has not complied with the undertaking which he or she has entered into as a condition for the receipt of statutory benefit and the Authority may continue to withhold such instalment pending compliance with that undertaking.

PART 5
CONTRACTUAL INSURANCE AND BENEFIT

12.   Form of the contract

A contract of insurance and the proposal shall be in the forms and shall contain the particulars set out in Form I and Form II respectively in Schedule 3.

13.   Period of insurance

A contract of insurance shall be for the period commencing on 1 January of one year and ending on 31 December of the same year or for the period commencing on 1 July of one year and ending on 30 June of the following year.

14.   Subject matter of insurance

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   (1)   A contract of insurance shall not be entered into with respect to plant mats unless those mats are part of a block of at least 100 plant mats in a new or replanted field.

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   (2)   During any period of insurance, the plant mats of a holding shall not be insured under more than one contract of insurance.

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   However, a contract of insurance may at any time at the discretion of the Authority be varied to provide for additional coverage.

15.   Premium

The premium payable by an assured shall be at the rate of $0.03 for every plant mat.

However, in the case of holdings which have been replanted to the satisfaction of the Authority, the Authority may reduce the premium to $0.02 for every plant mat.

16.   Conditions for contractual benefit

An assured shall be qualified to receive contractual benefit in respect of the loss of the plant mats specified in his or her contract of insurance, and shall not be so qualified, unless—

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   (a)     the information supplied by him or her and set out in the Proposal Form attached to his or her contract of insurance is true and correct in every particular;

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   (b)     the plant mats with respect to which he or she claims benefit or that portion of the holding of which those plant mats originally formed part has suffered loss to an extent not less than the statutory minimum;

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   (c)     during the appropriate insurance year, no bunch of bananas was harvested from the mats with respect to which he or she claims benefit;

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   (d)     at the time of the windstorm, the premium due under his or her contract of insurance has been fully paid; and

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   (e)     he or she makes a return in accordance with the provisions of Part 6 of these Regulations.

17.   Amount of contractual benefit

The amount of benefit payable to an assured under a contract of insurance shall be $0.50 for every affected plant mat in excess of the minimum statutory percentage.

18.   The applicable provisions

The applicable provisions shall with the necessary modifications apply to every contract of insurance entered into under the Act between the Authority and an assured, and in relation to every such contract, the applicable provisions and the forms prescribed thereunder shall be construed as if—

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   (i)     for the word “statutory” there were substituted the word “contractual”,

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   (ii)     for the word “grower” there were substituted the word “assured”,

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   (iii)     for the word “ratoon” there were substituted the word “plant”,

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   (iv)     for the words “registration number” there were substituted the words “policy number”.

19.   Records

An assured shall keep proper records of all bunches of bananas harvested from the mats referred to in the proposal form attached to his or her contract of insurance, and shall forward those records to the Authority after every sale of bananas to the local authority.

PART 6
RETURNS, TRIBUNALS AND REVIEWS

20.   The return claiming benefit

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   (1)   Every return claiming statutory benefit shall be in the form and shall contain the particulars set out in Form 1 in Schedule 4 to these Regulations.

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   (2)   Every such return shall be delivered at the office of the Authority to the appropriate agent within 10 days after the occurrence of the windstorm which occasioned the loss in respect of which benefit is claimed.

21.   Establishment of tribunals

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   (1)   The tribunals required to be established under the provisions of the Act for the purpose of applications for review or appeals under section 13 of the Act shall be established in the manner and numbers specified in subregulation (2).

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   (2)   Every tribunal shall be appointed by the Authority and shall consist of—

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      (a)     one member on the advice of the grower;

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      (b)     one member on the advice of the Authority; and

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      (c)     one member on the advice of the Director of Agricultural Services.

22.   Applications for review

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   (1)   Every application for review and every appeal under section 12 of the Act shall be in the form and manner and shall contain the particulars set out in Forms II or III respectively of Schedule 4 to these Regulations.

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   (2)   Every application for review shall be made within 7 days of the date of service on the grower of the assessment to which such application relates.

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   (3)   The deposit required by the Act to accompany every application for review shall be—

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      (a)     $10 in the case where the application for review relates to an assessment of a single affected holding;

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      (b)     $15 in the case where the application for review relates to assessment of an area within which are comprised more than one affected holding.

PART 7
CESS

23.   Payment of cess

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   (1)   Any cess collected by the local authority shall be paid over to the Authority by a deposit of the amount of that cess to the credit of the Authority in any bank specified by the Authority.

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   (2)   Every such deposit shall be made not later than the fifteenth day of the month next following the month during which the cess shall have been collected.

Schedule 1

Schedule 2

Schedule 3

Schedule 4

CHAPTER 12.11
WINDWARD ISLANDS BANANA INSURANCE ACT

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION

No Subsidiary Legislation