Dionne Rose, Parliamentary Reporter

( L - R ) Nicholson and Chuck

Shadow spokesman on Justice Delroy Chuck says the Opposition is willing to resume bilateral talks on the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) with the Government in January.

Mr. Chuck's comments yesterday came as he backtracked from an earlier denial this week that the Government had attempted to discuss, with the Opposition, two pieces of legislation that would establish the CCJ as Jamaica's final court of appeal and have it entrenched in the Constitution.

On Monday, Mr. Chuck dismissed the Justice Minister's assertion in the Senate last Friday that the Opposition was holding up the legislation. He also claimed Senator Nicholson had not continued discussions with him on the matter since January.

Since Mr. Chuck's subsequent comments were published in The Gleaner on Tuesday, Senator Nicholson forwarded a letter to the newsroom, dated June 15, 2006. The letter, written to Mr. Chuck, sought the parliamentary support of the Opposition for legislation that would both establish the CCJ as Jamaica's final court of appeal in place of the Privy Council, as well as have it entrenched in the Constitution after the electorate had voted on it.

"He is wrong, we have written the letter, which was sent from June and that was arising out of the discussions we had up until January," the Justice Minister said. "I don't want any confrontation on this thing but the thing is, persons need visas to access the Privy Council."

When Mr. Chuck was contacted yesterday, he admitted that Senator Nicholson had indeed sent him two proposed bills but that, at first glance, he thought the bills looked like the bill the Privy Council rejected and that he did not pursue the matter any further.

"But I must (now) go back and look at the file," he said.

Last year, the CCJ was formally inaugurated in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. But while Jamaica has passed legislation to allow for the original jurisdiction of the court, the Government needs a two-thirds majority of both Houses of Parliament to make it the final court of appeal.