Passport (Amendment) Act 2014 passed in Parliament

The Passport (Amendment) Act 2014 was passed in the House of Assembly on Tuesday.

The Bill had all three readings and was passed after amendments were made to Clause 6.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who presented the Bill to the house, moved an amendment to clause 6(1) and 6(2), which had been the major points of contention during the day’s debate.{{more}}

Clause 6(1) was amended to read: “Every passport issued with a period of validity of more than five years, on or after the 3rd day of March 2014, but prior to the commencement of this Act and the regulations made under the principal Act, is declared to have been validly issued.”

Clause 6(2) was amended to read: “The fees set out in the schedule to this Act, which were levied, charged and collected by the Passport Officer on or after the 26th day of February 2014, but prior to the commencement of this Act and the regulations made under the principal Act are declared to have been validly levied, charged and collected.”

Prime Minister Gonsalves said that the validations in the Bill pertain to collection of fees for the new 10-year e-passport, which the Government began issuing on March 3, 2014.

He explained that Government began collecting fees and issuing the passports before the fees had been published or gazetted.

Item 6(1) of the Act is to make the new 10-year e passports valid and Item 6(2) makes the collection of the fees in the schedule lawful.

The Bill was passed without the support of members of the Opposition.

The House of Assembly was suspended until 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 25, 2014.