Govt hikes fines for selling homemade vinegar, coconut products

Ke­jan Haynes

Ed­i­tor - News­gath­er­ing

ke­[email protected]

The Gov­ern­ment is propos­ing sweep­ing in­creas­es to fines con­tained across dozens of laws, with some of the most eye-catch­ing changes tar­get­ing of­fences in­volv­ing the pro­duc­tion of vine­gar and co­conut prod­ucts.

The in­creas­es are con­tained in the Fi­nance Bill, 2026, which was laid in Par­lia­ment yes­ter­day by Fi­nance Min­is­ter Dav­en­dranath Tan­coo. The bill is sched­uled for de­bate in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives on June 10 be­fore go­ing to the Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee on June 12.

Among the pro­posed amend­ments is an in­crease in the fine for man­u­fac­tur­ing vine­gar for sale with­out a li­cence un­der the Spir­its and Spir­it Com­pounds Act. That penal­ty would jump from $2,000 to $8,000, a 300 per cent in­crease.

The bill al­so pro­pos­es dou­bling the penal­ty for man­u­fac­tur­ing co­pra prod­ucts with­out a li­cence un­der the Co­pra Prod­ucts Con­trol Act. The fine would rise from $4,000 to $8,000.

Co­pra is the dried meat or ker­nel of a co­conut and is used to pro­duce co­conut oil and oth­er co­conut-based prod­ucts.

The un­usu­al of­fences stand out in leg­is­la­tion that oth­er­wise fo­cus­es heav­i­ly on crime, pub­lic safe­ty, en­vi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion and busi­ness reg­u­la­tion.

The Fi­nance Bill con­tains high­er penal­ties for a range of of­fences, in­clud­ing op­er­at­ing a sawmill with­out a li­cence, re­mov­ing tim­ber with­out a per­mit, hunt­ing-re­lat­ed vi­o­la­tions, to­bac­co sales of­fences and breach­es of gam­ing and liquor li­cence laws.

Un­der the To­bac­co Con­trol Act, penal­ties would rise sharply. A first of­fence for ac­tiv­i­ties such as sell­ing to­bac­co prod­ucts to mi­nors or dis­play­ing to­bac­co prod­ucts pub­licly could at­tract a fine of $150,000 and nine months’ im­pris­on­ment. Re­peat of­fend­ers could face fines of up to $300,000 and prison terms of up to 27 months.

The bill al­so in­tro­duces a new of­fence un­der the Liquor Li­cences Act for op­er­at­ing more amuse­ment games than per­mit­ted, car­ry­ing a pro­posed fine of $25,000 and up to one year in prison.

In a me­dia re­lease yes­ter­day, the Min­istry of Fi­nance said the leg­is­la­tion ad­dress­es sev­er­al ar­eas of Gov­ern­ment pol­i­cy, in­clud­ing pen­sion re­form for the pro­tec­tive ser­vices, tax ex­emp­tions for ap­proved pen­sion and an­nu­ity plans, re­vi­sions to gam­ing tax­es and amend­ments to the Land­lord Busi­ness Sur­charge.

The min­istry al­so said the bill seeks to strength­en crim­i­nal penal­ties across a wide cross-sec­tion of of­fences as part of the Gov­ern­ment’s fight against crime.

How­ev­er, for­mer fi­nance min­is­ter and Op­po­si­tion MP Colm Im­bert yes­ter­day ques­tioned the ra­tio­nale be­hind some of the in­creas­es.

Speak­ing at an Op­po­si­tion me­dia con­fer­ence in the Par­lia­ment, Im­bert high­light­ed the Mo­tor Launch­es Act, say­ing the gen­er­al penal­ty for of­fences where no spe­cif­ic pun­ish­ment is pre­scribed would in­crease from $2,000 to $7,500.

“The fine for an un­spec­i­fied of­fence or of­fences where there’s no pre­scribed penal­ty un­der the Mo­tor Launch­es Act, that’s what a par­ty boat is. A mo­tor launch is some­thing that car­ries pas­sen­gers com­mer­cial­ly. Used to be $2,000 for where there’s no penal­ty pre­scribed, the fine used to be $2,000, it’s now $7,500.

“That’s a 275 per cent in­crease. What’s the ba­sis for this? Are we go­ing from 2,000 to 7,500 and there’s no pre­scribed penal­ty? It’s just an ar­bi­trary thing. If you do any­thing wrong, any lit­tle of­fence of that act, $7,500, and that’s just one.”

Key fine in­creas­es in Fi­nance Bill 2026

• Man­u­fac­tur­ing vine­gar for sale with­out a li­cence: $2,000 → $8,000

• Man­u­fac­tur­ing co­pra prod­ucts with­out a li­cence: $4,000 → $8,000

• Op­er­at­ing more amuse­ment games than per­mit­ted: New $25,000 fine and up to one year in prison

• Sell­ing to­bac­co to mi­nors and re­lat­ed of­fences: Up to $150,000 and nine months’ im­pris­on­ment for a first of­fence

• To­bac­co of­fences on in­dict­ment: Up to $600,000 and three years’ im­pris­on­ment

• Re­mov­ing tim­ber with­out a per­mit: $100,000 → $150,000

• Op­er­at­ing a sawmill with­out a li­cence: $100,000 → $150,000

• Hunt­ing-re­lat­ed of­fences: Up to $150,000

• Gen­er­al Mo­tor Launch­es Act of­fences: $2,000 → $7,500

• Car­ry­ing ex­cess pas­sen­gers on a ves­sel: $200 → $1,000