By Omar Anderson, Gleaner WriterA CARIBBEAN Community (CARICOM)-commissioned study has cast doubt on the readiness of the region to implement the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), as several member-states are ill-prepared to do so.
As a result, Opposition Leader Edward Seaga yesterday projected the implementation of the CSME to be around 2007. He was speaking at a CSME seminar organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade at Gordon House, downtown Kingston.
Referring to the study done by Professor Havelock Brewster from Washington in the United States, the Opposition Leader said time was running out on the region's preparation for the CSME.
Quoting the professor on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Mr. Seaga said several member-states do not have laws on the matter and have not enacted legislation to comply with the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
SYNCHRONISING COMPANY LAWS
Regarding company law, Mr. Seaga said nothing had been achieved to date regarding the harmonisation of company laws, and that some CARICOM members have serious conceptual differences on how they should approach the issue.
"It took us (Jamaica) many years to be able to bring to this House (of Representatives), the revised version of the Companies Act, and even so it had to be admitted that this was just a first phase, because there were lots of areas to be addressed which would have to be done after," Mr. Seaga said.
Regarding customs law, the Opposition Leader noted that a model law already prepared has only been accepted by one CARICOM member-state, as several others have serious difficulties with it.
Seminar chairman, Foreign Affairs Minister K.D. Knight, noted that it was CARICOM that had mandated Professor Brewster to conduct the study which has already resulted in the setting up of a CSME unit in Barbados.
"... Having recognised the pace at which we were going, and having identified some of the shortcomings, there is now a concerted effort to be able to get back on track," Mr. Knight said. He added that deadlines relating to the structural framework of the WTO and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), were often missed as well.
But in a swift response, Mr. Seaga said the important thing to examine was the scope of work involved in establishing the CSME.
"What you are speaking to is completion by the end of 2004, which is totally impossible absolutely, completely and totally impossible," he said, adding it would take the rest of the legislative year to get through all the necessary legislation ready.
"You are far from having it ready domestically, and you are even further away from having it ready regionally, so the scope of work is not one year or a part of a year. It is going to be much more than one year, probably two or three years," Mr. Seaga said.
