Municipal Court For Caricom Member States example essay topic

The establishment of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy is the only viable option for the Caribbean Community and its peoples. However, by itself, it would mean little without a system to ensure that the benefits intended can be realized and that people and the Governments adhere to its provisions. There is therefore a fundamental connection between the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and the CSME. It is the responsibility of the CCJ to ensure that the law is observed in the interpretation and applications of the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, the legal framework of the CSME. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will act as the guarantor of a stable and honest business environment. CCJ will play an Appellate Court for Member States and will also as an arbitrator in disputes surrounding the CSME.

The CCJ is one vital institution, implementation machinery and governance structures created to make the CSME an effective instrument for expanding markets, disseminating knowledge by increased exposure to new technologies, facilitating competition, stimulating gains in productivity, improving our investment potential. The CCJ will provide the judicial competence, processes and procedures and is crucial to the implementation and effective operation of the CSME. There is no other institution endowed with the power to interpret the provisions of the Treaty and ensure that the law is not applied differently in each Member State. It is essential to ensure that as a shared legal system the Treaty remains a body of Community laws applied uniformly for all circumstances, except where the Treaty itself provides otherwise. This is in fact the Original Jurisdiction of the CCJ and its authority will extend to the determination of disputes, which may arise in the interpretation and application of the treaty. The CCJ will have a determinative role in the further development of the legal system of CARICOM through the judicial process.

The CCJ should be entrenched the Constitutions of Member States. The establishment of the Court is a further step in the deepening of the regional integration process. The establishment of the CCJ would ensure CSME integrity and assume custody of the rights of participating states and their nationals. The CCJ is described as the backbone of an efficient CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Single Market and Economy, given its exclusive jurisdiction in interpreting and applying the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (establishing the Caribbean Community as well as the Single Market and Economy) according to the rules of international law. The CCJ is unique in that it was designed to also function as the highest appellate municipal court for CARICOM member states, replacing the Judicial Committee of the United Kingdom Privy Council. "It represents a significant turning point in the development of the institutional infrastructure of the integration movement, particularly in respect of judicial institutional development", CARICOM Deputy Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett said.

It focussed specifically on the role the CCJ will play as an Appellate Court for Member States and also as an arbitrator in disputes surrounding the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).