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2024.12.10
Deputy C.D . Curtis of St. Helier Central of the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development
regarding the purchase of goods online (OQ.236/2024):
In relation to Islanders buying goods online, will the Minister advise what work he is undertaking, if any, regarding online businesses and their policies for shipping to Jersey?
Deputy K.F. Morel of St. John , St. Lawrence and Trinity (The Minister for Sustainable Economic
Development):
I thank the Deputy for her question. It is a decision for individual businesses as to whether they wish to supply to Jersey, and with this in mind my department does not work specifically to encourage any particular online retailers to sell to the Island. However, we are of course keen to ensure that Islanders have the opportunity to purchase from a wide range of online retailer. While some retailers will have restrictions and indeed do have restrictions on the regions to which they deliver, having a resilient, efficient and quick supply chain is an important part of ensuring retailers can integrate themselves easily.
3.3.1 Deputy C.D . Curtis :
But does the Minister agree that Jersey residents should deserve to be treated like other residents of the British Isles and be able to access the same retail websites?
Deputy K.F. Morel :
I thank the Deputy for her question. It is not for me to agree or disagree one or the other. Businesses, when they are seeking to supply smaller jurisdictions, sometimes choose not to because of the differences between the smaller jurisdictions and the larger jurisdiction to which they are a partner of. Indeed this can be seen with one of the major online platforms, which has a long list of small jurisdictions, which it does not supply devices to. I believe that is likely to be because of differences in taxation, such as value added tax; in our case, goods and services tax. I believe that is often the reason, it is administrative differences that these very large corporations - often large corporations - choose not to work within those administrative differences.