The Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC)

Introduction

The Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (“the Commission”) was established pursuant to Article V(1) of the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice (“the Agreement”) executed by the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community on the 14th day of February 2001.   By virtue of the deposit of Instruments of Ratification or Accession in accordance with Article XXXIV, by three Member States of the Caribbean Community, this Agreement entered into force on the 23rd day of July 2003.

Composition

The composition of the Commission as set out in Article V(1) of the Agreement is as follows:

a) the President who shall be the Chairman of the Commission;

b) two persons nominated jointly by the Organisation of the Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Association (OCCBA) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Bar Association;

c) one chairman of the Judicial Services Commission of a Contracting Party selected in rotation in the English alphabetical order for a period of three years;

d) the Chairman of a Public Service Commission of a Contracting Party selected in rotation in the reverse English alphabetical order for a period of three years;

e) two persons from civil society nominated jointly by the Secretary-General of the Community and the Director General of the OECS for a period of three years following consultations with regional non-governmental organisations;

f) two distinguished jurists nominated jointly by the Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies, the Deans of the Faculties of Law of any of the Contracting Parties and the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education; and

g) two persons nominated jointly by the Bar or Law Associations of the Contracting Parties.

The first members of the Commission were appointed on 20th August 2003.

Functions of the Commission

The main functions of the Commission are set out in Article V.3(1) of the Agreement. This Article provides that:

The Commission shall have responsibility for:

• making appointments to the office of Judge of the Court, other than that of President;
• making appointments of those officials and employees referred to in Article XXVII and for determining the salaries and allowances to be paid to such officials and employees;
• the determination of the terms and conditions of service of officials and employees; and
• the termination of appointments in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement

The Agreement also sets out other functions of the Commission. These functions include:

• the exercise of disciplinary control over Judges of the Court, other than the President, and over officials and employees of the Court; Article V.3(2).
• the making of recommendations to the Heads as to the person to be appointed President and for the removal of the President from office; Article IV.6.
• the determination of the terms and conditions and other benefits of the President and other Judges of the Court with the approval of the Heads of Government; Article XXVIII as amended.
• the making of Regulations –
  • to govern the appointment, discipline, termination of appointment and other terms and conditions of service and employment for Judges, other than the President, and officials and employees of the Court,
  • to prescribe the procedure governing the conduct of such proceedings, and
  • generally, to give effect to the Agreement; Article XXXI

Under Article 172 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, the Commission has the responsibility for appointing the members of the CARICOM Competition Commission.

And by Article V of the Statute of the Caribbean Community Administrative Tribunal, the Commission also has responsibility for selecting the members of the Tribunal.