Byron Buckley, News Editor
St. Lucian Prime Minister, Dr. Kenny Anthony, speaks to The Gleaner at the Courtleigh Hotel in New Kingston on Saturday. He was in the island to address a function at the University of the West Indies, Mona, on Friday. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
PRIME MINISTER of St. Lucia, Dr. Kenny Anthony, says he is against the use of a tribunal to settle trade disputes in the region, as suggested by the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will inaugurate the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on April 16 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, to settle trade disputes across the region as well as to hear criminal and civil appeal cases.
But, on Friday, Karl Samuda, Opposition spokesman on industry and trade, indicated that his party would not support a bill, to be debated in the House of Represen-tatives tomorrow, intended to give Jamaica access to the trade aspect of the CCJ.
Samuda is arguing that Jamaica's contribution to maintain the new regional court, currently with a six-man panel of judges, is too costly, and suggests alternatively a trade tribunal that, apparently, would be assembled on demand.
LAYER OF BUREAUCRACY
"I would be uneasy about such an arrangement," reacted Dr. Anthony on the weekend. "You need authoritative decision making and a court can be far more authoritative than a tribunal."
Dr. Anthony, who has responsibility for governance issues in CARICOM, told The Gleaner that the use of a tribunal would add another layer of bureaucracy that would stymie the resolution of trade disputes. He argued that more bureaucracy would result in additional costs for litigants, who may still have to resort to a final court to determine the 'validity' or the 'legality' of the decision of a tribunal.
The necessity for a trade court has arisen due to the formation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) by the merger of the domestic markets of 14 of the 15-member grouping into one expanded market where the factors of production move unimpeded across national borders. regional governments anticipate that as the CSME emerges, there will be need for a body to decide on trade disputes between countries and other players in the single market, which is to become fully operational by year end.
Anthony, a former legal counsel to the CARICOM secretariat, advised that a court, rather than a tribunal, would be better able to enforce the complex trade rules under the CSME as well as protect the constitutional rights of citizens of each member state.
"I am not sold on the idea of a tribunal and I suspect that is a red herring more than a serious argument," he said, while noting that several of the judges appointed to the CCJ are experts in trade and international relations.
One of the early trade cases likely to come before the new regional court is whether Trinidad and Tobago should sell Jamaica natural gas at the domestic price, in accordance with single market rules, or at a higher price for the export market.
The St. Lucian prime minister concedes that in the early stage of the CSME there will be few trade disputes to settle, compared to civil and criminal appeals, because "we do not have a history in the Caribbean of turning to courts to resolve trade issues or issues of interpretation of a treaty."
