Georgetown: As CARICOM Heads of Government and their delegations deliberate on the future of the region Guyana is looking to change the Union from its very core. Guyana has directed the attention of the legal arm of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to revising the Treaty of Chaguaramus that formed the alliance of nations in 1973.
According to Guyana’s Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Anil Nandlall the country is exploring a way to amend the level of unanimity required to act on necessary decisions taken over time and have them properly implemented.
Nandlall told this publication that the issue of how the Treaty is to be amended was sent to the Legal Affairs Committee of CARICOM to offer their opinion on whether the existing mechanism should be retained or changed.
He explained that in its current state, the amendment mechanism of the Treaty of Chaguaramus requires unanimity before an article or clause of the Treaty could be amended.
As a result of the requirement of unanimity, Nandlall said that CARICOM has found that it takes an extremely long time to get things done.
Nandlall suggests that rather than having 100 percent unanimity among Heads and leaders maybe there should be a simple majority scenario.
He said that in such a stage Heads could agree to a policy and move to implement it while other sister CARICOM countries not involved in the original decision could always come on board at a subsequent time.
The Legal Affairs Committee is comprised of all of the Attorney Generals of CARICOM and Nandlall recently chaired a forum where the matter was expounded on.
The Guyana Government’s legal advisor said he was not in a position to expand further on what changes Guyana wants to see in the Treaty and explained that he was called in to address the amendment mechanism of the Treaty of Chaguaramus.
The Treaty of Chaguaramas that established the Caribbean Community including the Caribbean Common Market was signed by Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago on July 4, 1973, in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago and came into effect on August 1, 1973.
The Caribbean Community and the Caribbean Common Market replaced the Caribbean Free Trade Association that ceased to exist on May 1, 1974.
The Treaty of Chaguaramas was juridical hybrid consisting of the Caribbean Community as a separate legal entity from the Common Market that had its own discrete legal personality.
Indeed, the legal separation of these two institutions was emphasised by the elaboration of two discrete legal instruments: the Treaty establishing the Caribbean Community and the Agreement establishing the Common Market (which was later annexed to the Treaty and designated the Common Market Annex). This institutional arrangement facilitated States joining the Community without being parties to the Common Market regime.
In addition to economic issues, the Community instrument addressed issues of foreign policy coordination and functional cooperation.
Issues of economic integration, particularly those related to trade arrangements, were addressed in the Common Market Annex.
Because of this juridically separate identity of the regional common market, it was possible for the Bahamas to become a member of the Community in 1983 without joining the Common Market.
You must be logged in to post a comment.