Heads of Government and State of the Caribbean Community have accepted the advice of the President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the Rt. Hon. Michael de la Bastide, T.C. and the Chairman of the Inauguration Task Force, Sir David Simmons, K.A., to postpone the inauguration of the CCJ to the first quarter of 2005. Heads had previously set 6 November 2004 as the date for inauguration during their meeting in Grenada in July 2004.
Postponement of the date for inauguration has become inevitable for three (3) main reasons:
(i) The Government of Trinidad and Tobago recently took a decision to change the location of the headquarters of the Court from the site originally designated. The work of renovation and fitting up of the new headquarters cannot now be completed in time for 6 November 2004.
(ii) All of the Member States of CARICOM have not completed the necessary legislative processes to invest the Court with jurisdictions under local law. Three States; Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Grenada, still need to pass the relevant legislation. Although it is anticipated that Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago may be able to complete the legislative processes prior to 6 November 2004, it will be virtually impossible for Grenada to do so owing to the devastation wrought by hurricane Ivan in September.
Passing of the legislation is critical to the funding of the Court since it is a pre-condition of the loan agreement with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) that all Member States must transform the Treaties relating to the Court and the Single Market and Economy into local law prior to disbursement of the loan to the trustees of the Trust Fund. Negotiations are ongoing with the CDB for a relaxation of this pre-condition to accommodate the plight of Grenada.
(iii) Time is required to allow the five (5) judges of the Court and other senior executive staff of the Court to give reasonable notice of termination of their existing employment. In this regard, the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC) wishes the Regional public to know that, at its recent meeting on 27 and 28 September 2004, it selected five (5) persons for appointment as judges of the Court. The Commission is also in the process of interviewing and selecting necessary senior executive staff.
In all these circumstances and, having regard also to the Carnival celebrations in Trinidad and Tobago in February 2005, Heads have agreed to defer inauguration of the CCJ until a date in March 2005 to be determined by them.
