Major Win for GOB at CCJ

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has ruled in favour of the Government of Belize in a long-running fight against private gas companies over the importation of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

For many years, companies such as Western Gas and Zeta Gas trucked LPG into Belize from Mexico and Central America. In 2020, the government created the National Gas Company (NGC) to centralise imports by sea through Big Creek, leaving private companies to buy from NGC and resell. This gave NGC a monopoly.

In response, the gas companies argued this system destroyed their business model and claimed their “goodwill” had been taken. The case went through Belize’s courts and eventually reached the CCJ. 

Senior Counsel Eamon Courtney represented the government. Speaking to News Five, he explained, “There was no breach of any right to carry on the business the way they were doing it… They had not proven their damages, and so their claim was essentially dismissed.”

At one point, the companies had been awarded more than $60 million in damages. That award has now been overturned.

Not all judges agreed with the ruling, however; Justice Jamadar, in a dissenting opinion, sided with the companies: “The result of the original act was an immediate loss of business, customer base, and goodwill. This amounted to a deprivation and or taking of property.”

Courtney highlighted one of the CCJ’s central findings, which gave the government the final win, however. “You can’t continue to carry on business and say you have lost your goodwill. If you still exist and you’re carrying on business, you have your goodwill. It may have been diminished, it may have been affected, but you have not lost it,” he said.

As a result, the CCJ majority ruled today that the gas companies’ rights to property, work, and equality were not breached.

This means the government no longer faces liability for the multimillion-dollar claim, and the new LPG system with NGC as the sole importer has been legally validated.