GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — The Guyana-based Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat says it is moving towards consolidating the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) initiative with sensitisation sessions for judges in competition law and policy.

It said the first of these workshops was expected to begin yesterday in Jamaica with funding being provided funded under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF).

It said that seven judges will participate in the event at the Court of Appeal and that “this is part of a larger project to assist member states with improving their regulatory, administrative and institutional arrangements related to the single market”.

The CSME allows for the free movement of goods, services, skills and labour and the Caricom Secretariat said that the participants will be sensitised on a wide range of areas including the principles of competition law and policy, competition and economic efficiency and abuse of dominance.

“They will also be examining the critical subject of mergers as well as the different types of agreements between companies,” it said, adding that the exercise will be conducted by the German-based consulting firm, BKP Research and Consulting.

“The objective is to have these sessions for the judiciary from all the CSME-participating member states and this will be rolled out over the next four months. Judges from both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court in these member states will be involved in this activity.”

Caricom said that at the end of the sensitisation exercise, “it is expected that the capacity of member states to handle competition-related issues within the CSME will be strengthened”.

The secretariat said that under this same project, it has also been conducting training in consumer protection for member states with sessions on the Caricom Rapid Alert System for the Exchange of Information on Dangerous Non-food Goods, which will facilitate a regional response to harmful products entering the markets of member states.

Additionally, they have been exposed to the Draft Caricom Consumer Protection Model Bill that will guide member states in the drafting of their legislation.

St Lucia recently passed its consumer protection bill which was informed by the Caricom model.