Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

4.   Surrender of gold and foreign currency

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   (1)   Every person in Saint Lucia who is entitled to sell, or to procure the sale of, any gold, or any foreign currency to which this section applies, and is not an authorised dealer, shall offer it, or cause it to be offered, for sale to an authorised dealer, unless the Director of Finance and Planning consents to his or her retention and use thereof or he or she disposes thereof to any other person with the permission of the Director of Finance and Planning.

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   The foreign currency to which this section applies is such foreign currency (hereafter in this Act referred to as “specified currency”) as may be specified by order of the Governor General.

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   (2)   If a person who has obtained the consent of the Director of Finance and Planning to his or her retention and use of any gold or specified currency, and has stated in an application for the consent that he or she requires it for a particular purpose, no longer requires the gold or currency for that purpose, the preceding subsection shall thereupon apply to him or her in relation to that gold or currency as if the Director of Finance and Planning had revoked his or her consent to his or her retention and use thereof.

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   (3)   A person who acquires any gold or specified currency from an authorised dealer shall be treated for the purposes of this section as if the Director of Finance and Planning had consented to the retention and use by him or her of that gold or currency (subject, however, to any conditions notified to him or her in accordance with subsection (3) of the preceding section), and as if any statement made by him or her in an application for that gold or currency as to the purpose for which he or she requires it had been made by him or her in an application for the Director of Finance and Planning's consent to his or her retention and use thereof.

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   (4)   Where a person has become bound under this section to offer or cause to be offered any gold or specified currency for sale to an authorised dealer, he or she shall not be deemed to comply with that obligation by any offer made or caused to be made by him or her, if the offer is an offer to sell at a price exceeding that authorised by the Director of Finance and Planning or without payment of any usual and proper charges of the authorised dealer, or otherwise on any unusual terms.

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   (5)   Where a person has become bound under this section to offer or cause to be offered any gold or specified currency for sale to an authorised dealer and has not complied with that obligation, the Governor General may direct that that gold or currency shall vest in the Director of Finance and Planning and it shall vest in the Director of Finance and Planning accordingly free from any mortgage, pledge or charge, and the Director of Finance and Planning may deal with it as he or she thinks fit, but the Director of Finance and Planning shall pay to the person who would but for the direction be entitled to the gold or currency such sum as he or she would have received therefor if he or she had sold it to an authorised dealer in pursuance of an offer made under this section at the time when the vesting occurred.

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   (6)   In any proceedings in respect of a failure to comply with the provisions of this section, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, that the gold or currency in question has not been offered for sale to an authorised dealer.