Vendors have been granted their licences to sell alcohol at today’s Panorama semi-finals at the Queen’s Park Savannah.
President of the Carnival Entrepreneurs Association David Baptiste said the Hall of Justice had been opened yesterday to accommodate applications from vendors.
The group of approximately 80 members protested outside the court at St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain, last Thursday and Friday to highlight the issue.
The vendors, who paid $3,000 for a booth, protested on Friday at being initially told that their licences would only have been granted from February 08th -14th, 2024. Legal Notice No 19 of 2024, previously stipulated that the special event for which special licences would be issued would run from February 8, 2024, to February 14, 2024.
They said the inability to sell liquor today would have severely crippled their sales and left them holding stocks that they were not guaranteed to sell out.
Noting the complaints by the vendors, the Judiciary yesterday advised that Legal Notice No 20 of 2024 would replace Legal Notice No 19 of 2024, which was published at 5:30 pm on January 26, 2024, by the Government Printery.
Legal Notice No 20 of 2024, which was issued on January 26, 2024, stipulated that the special event period would run from January 26, 2024, to February 14, 2024.
The Judiciary said, “In light of this proclamation, special events’ licences could only have been issued from February 8, 2024.”
Officials further advised that Licensing Committees could not issue special event licences outside of the stipulated special event period which is determined by legal proclamation.
“In light of this replacement Legal Notice, and in an effort to reduce the economic impact on applicants,” the Judiciary said the Licensing Committee for the City of Port-of-Spain had been open to accepting applications from vendors who would have previously applied for special event licences covering the old period of February 8, 2024, to February 14, 2024.
Baptiste said vendors “appreciate all the efforts by the judiciary that went into getting this done.