Caribbean Integration Law

Caribbean Integration Law offers a comprehensive legal analysis of the current treaties and rules governing the two main regional organisations in the Caribbean, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Both organisations are operating under new treaties, the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the Revised Treaty of Basseterre, respectively, which created the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and the OECS Economic Union. The single market and economic union were built upon principles of free movement of goods, labour, and capital, and a common external tariff.

This book reviews the foundations of Caribbean regional integration, the institutional frameworks of the two regional organisations, and fleshes out the scope and context of the legal systems created by the treaties. It also reviews the dispute settlement mechanisms under both treaties, including the increasingly active role of the Caribbean Court of Justice, which allows persons to enforce their treaty rights directly before the Court. The book offers selective comparisons to the current rules governing the European Union, and integrates crucial insights from the field of public international law, including the law of treaties and international institutional law.

David S. Berry, Dean of Law, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus

Dr David S. Berry, Barrister and Attorney-at-Law, is Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, and University Dean. He teaches in the areas of general public international law and regional integration law. He has written articles and chapters in the same fields as well as in the areas of the law of treaties, aboriginal law, philosophy of law, and feminist theory. Dr Berry also practices in various areas, primarily serving Governments and regional and international organisations. He has served as Deputy Agent, Legal Adviser, or Counsel, for the State of Barbados in cases before a number of tribunals and legal bodies, including the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Barbados-Trinidad Maritime Boundary Arbitration, and the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Part I: Fundamentals of Caribbean Integration
1. Introduction
2. Foundations of Caribbean Integration
Part II: Institutional Frameworks
3. Status of the Treaties and Regional Organisations
4. Objectives and Membership
5. Organs - Structure, Competences, and Decision-Making Processes
6. The Creation and Nature of Legal Obligations
7. Implementation and Enforcement of Binding Obligations
8. Final Provisions of the Treaties
Part III: The Legal Systems
9. General Principles of Law and Other Foundational Legal Concepts
10. Substantive Rules and Policies
11. Introduction to Competition Rules
Part IV: Dispute Settlement and Enforcement Mechanisms
12. Dispute Settlement Mechanisms
13. Dispute Settlement Through Regional Courts
Part V: The Way Forward
14. Conclusions