Plans for the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) are expected to be further advanced at a meeting in Barbados on 16 February 2000. The meeting will be held at the Grand Barbados Hotel.
Attorney General of Barbados, the Hon. David Simmons Q.C, Chairman of the Preparatory Committee on the Caribbean Court of Justice (PrepCom) will preside over its fourth meeting as the Committee discusses the instruments for the establishment of the CCJ, issues relating to the cost of operating the Court, a regional public education programme and preparations by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to house the Court.
When it is fully established, the CCJ will have both an Appellate and Original Jurisdictions. In the case of the former, the CCJ will be the final Court of Appeal for Member States of CARICOM and for the latter, the Court will have exclusive rights relating to interpretation of the Treaty of Chaguaramas, the Treaty which established the Caribbean Community and Common Market, and which is now being revised to give birth to the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The decision to establish PrepCom was advanced at the 20th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community last July in Trinidad and Tobago. It was at that meeting that CARICOM Heads of Government mandated that a sub-committee comprising Attorneys-General and Ministers of Legal Affairs engage themselves in examining the issues relating to the establishment of the Court.
At the Trinidad and Tobago meeting too, CARICOM Heads of Government recognised the need for the people of the Region to be fully informed about the Court and related issues. It was therefore, against this background that the PrepCom mandated the CARICOM Secretariat to advise on the implementation of a Region-wide Public Education Programme. It is expected that a full scale Public Education Pogramme will be launched during the first half of this year.
In addition to Barbados, the other Member States on the Committee are Guyana, Jamaica – Deputy Chair, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
This Fourth Meeting of the Preparatory Committee on the Caribbean Court of Justice will be preceded by the Third Meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee (LAC) of the Caribbean Community. The LAC is comprised of Ministers of Legal Affairs and Attorneys General in CARICOM. The LAC meeting takes place on 14-15 February 2000 at the same venue.
