KINGSTON, Jamaica — Chief Justice Bryan Sykes is reaffirming the importance of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as an original and appellate court in Jamaica’s position as a Caribbean Community (Caricom) member state.

“The original jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice is essential for the successful operation of the CSME (Caricom Single Market and Economy),” said Sykes, citing the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) during the Referral Process Workshop Series held at the Jamaica Pegasus on Saturday.

Jamaica currently subscribes to the United Kingdom (UK) based Privy Council as its final court of appeal even as it seeks to alter its constitution to detach from the UK and become a republic.

The decision over whether the country should use the Privy Council or CCJ has become a major talking point in the process of constitutional reform, as the opposition People’s National Party maintains it cannot support the constitutional reform bill put forward by the government as long as the Privy Council remains the country’s appellate court.

Sykes hailed the lofty ambitions of Caricom and stressed that the CCJ played a significant part in achieving said goals.

“It has a significant role in establishing the law and the rules relating to the operation of the CSME. It has been said that one of the primary objectives of the CSME is to promote economic integration, cooperation and development among member states. But it is more than that. When you look at the first 22 articles of the RTC, it reflects an ambitious intention to rebuild our Caribbean societies by establishing institutions that will enable us to organise our affairs as we see fit,” he stressed.

Sykes said the treaty was “creating a new Caribbean civilisation, not based on colonialism and slavery, but on economic development” and emphasised that the CCJ, in having sole jurisdiction to hear matters of the treaty, was an integral part of Jamaica’s justice system.

“In a sense, we are in the unique position of having two final appellate courts, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and also the CCJ when it comes to matters under the RTC,” Sykes explained.