Legislative drafters to meet in T&T on EPA

The Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat, under the auspices of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Implementation Unit, will be convening the Second Meeting of Legislative Drafters in Port-of-Spain next Thursday and Friday to consider and refine draft Model Bills intended to give effect to provisions of the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (Cariforum)-European Union (EU) EPA. 

The meeting will be funded under the Caribbean Aid for Trade and Regional Integration Trust Fund (CARTFund). “The meeting targets legislative drafters from Cariforum States that are signatory to the EPA. It is designed to benefit legislative drafters who will be tasked with preparing legislation to give effect to provisions of the agreement,” said the Unit’s Legal Officer,Alexis Downes-Amsterdam, who is spearheading the meeting. 

Consideration will be given to the Draft Model Telecommunications Regulatory Authority Bill, 2012 and Draft Model Interconnection and Access to Facilities Bill, 2012. In addition, participants will be provided with an overview of the EPA and the state-of-play of implementation, with particular attention to trade in services. 

The EPA was signed by fourteen Cariforum states in October 2008 and by the 15th Cariforum state, Haiti, in December 2009. The agreement has been provisionally applied since December 29, 2008.