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Leela Narinesingh
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS): The CARICOM
Single Market (CSM) is a grouping of sovereign states that
provides freedom for companies to establish businesses
throughout the Community. However, as in any free trade
area, there are some rules of procedure.
Aside from not levying import duties
on goods originating from Member States and removing all
tariffs and further restrictions from CARICOM goods,
business in the single market should also conform to
regional standards of production.
So far, 50 standards have been set for
products by the CARICOM established Caribbean Regional
Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), Private
Sector Consultant at the regional CARICOM Single Market and
Economy (CSME) unit of the CARICOM Secretariat, Leela
Narinesingh has pointed out.
Mrs. Narinesingh was speaking last
month to representatives from almost 200 Jamaican private
sector companies.
The Right of Establishment
Another area in which CARICOM
officials engineering the single market demand co-operation
is that of land and property accessibility.
Member States must ensure that
service providers, architects, engineers, and others from
other Member States have access to land, buildings and other
properties on a non-discriminatory basis, said Mrs.
Narinesingh.
The Right to which the private sector
consultant refers is that of Establishment.
The Right of Establishment requires
the removal of restrictions against individuals and legal
entities involved in the production of goods and the
provision of services and capital, Mrs. Narinesingh
explained.
In addition to land, buildings and
other properties, the Right of Establishment includes the
right to transfer managerial, technical and supervisory
staff. In other words, this Right is also linked with the
Free Movement of Skills/Labour clause of the Revised Treaty
of Chaguaramas.
Mrs. Narinesingh also pointed out that
the Right of Establishment must be done under the Company
Law of Member States, which in the Jamaican case is the
Companies Act, and other such laws as the Business Names Act
and the Financial Institutions Act.
As she highlighted, harmonisation
steps regarding these laws are being pursued by Member
States.
There have already been two meetings
of the Registrar of Companies within the Community, in which
an agreement on the governing principles of the Right of
Establishment within the CSME have been reached, she
pointed out.
Another area of agreement between the
CARICOM Registrars has been the creation of a list of
minimum registration requirements. All this will affect the
Alien Land Act, which currently exists in the Organisation
of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) - Grenada.
Under the Alien Land Act, companies
foreign to the country, wishing to establish business there
have to seek legal permission to access land.
However, as was announced at the January 30 symbolic signing
of the CSM at University of the West Indies, Mona Campus,
the OECS countries will not sign on to the CSM until the end
of the second quarter. This would mean that they have until
then to achieve compliance in this regard.
The National Treatment Clause under
the Revised Treaty can also be seen as another conjunction
to the Right of Establishment Act. National Treatment simply
means that CARICOM nationals in host Member States should be
given similar privileges as those given to natives of those
states.
Competition Commission & Investment
Policy Framework
The Community Competition Commission
is also another body provided for under the Revised Treaty.
This Commission was established under
Article 171 of the Revised Treaty. However, it is not yet in
operation, Mrs. Narinesingh informed.
Although the Commission is not yet in
operation, Suriname was designated its headquarters state in
2004 and in April 2005, the first meeting of the Competition
Policy officials was held and a subsequent recommendation
paper was presented to the Council for Trade and Economic
Development (COTED).
CARICOM is also in the process of
developing a regional investment policy framework, which
will include, a CARICOM Investment Code; a harmonised
investment incentive regime; a streamlined approval process;
and the implementation of national investment policy
reforms.
Nationals of CARICOM who wish to work in Member States
should be reminded that social security benefits will be
transferred to the home country upon completion of work
tenure.
The agreement for the Transfer of
Social Security benefits is in place in all Member States
except Suriname, which does not have a comparable social
security system and so cannot implement the agreement, Mrs.
Narinesingh explained.
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