A Commonwealth-funded, three-month course for legislative drafters in the Caribbean will be held in Georgetown, Guyana, from January 15 to April 6 this year.

The training programme, which is funded by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, is designed for lawyers serving as legislative drafters and those interested in this field of law. It is being co-organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the University of Guyana.

Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Ransford Smith said the course would help to strengthen the legislative drafting offices in the Caribbean, noting that this process was crucial to the implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

The CSME, he said, “requires a review of national legislation in many areas; enactment of national laws; development and implementation of procedural and regulatory guidelines; putting in place modern public service legislative measures; and introducing trade-related legislation”.

According to Smith, legislative drafters were in great demand, but were also in short supply in the region. Against this background, he said it is very important that these skills be developed and retained in the Caribbean.

He said the Commonwealth Secretariat was “aiming to do this by making this three-month course in legislative drafting available in the Caribbean over a five-year period”.

Dr Joan Imhoff-Nwasike, advisor [Caribbean] of the Secretariat’s Government and Institutional Development Division, added that the retention and shortage of legislative drafters has had a major impact on member countries, which require their services in regulatory and public sector reform, economic liberalisation and globalisation.

A release from the secretariat said the training programme would provide an in-depth analysis of the principles underlying legislative drafting and a thorough introduction to sound drafting practices. It will focus on the roles and responsibilities of the legislative counsel; types, hierarchy and structure of legislative instruments; and using information technology in the drafting process.