States Get Help with EPA Legislation

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Regional

Friday, 09 November 2012 02:29

By Carol Williams

Antigua St. John's - Antigua & Barbuda and other CARIFORUM states are getting help with legislation to provisionally implement the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed with the European Union in 2008.

Specific focus is being placed on draft legislation for International Maritime Transport Services and Professional Services.

A two-day meeting of legislative drafters from Caricom countries including the Dominican Republic that have signed on to the economic and trade pact got underway here on Thursday, convened by the Caricom Secretariat.

Legal Officer in the Caricom EPA Implementation Unit Alexis Downes-Amsterdam said countries are not obligated to pass uniform legislation, but rather will have to determine when the legislation will be applied in each country.

"For the most part when we look at the EPA a lot of it turns on what the states would have committed to do. What we're doing here is providing assistance, explaining the provisions, and that states, when they are ready, based on their own legislation agenda, can decide when they want to take advantage of the support we would have provided for them,"  she said.

Downes-Amsterdam said the countries can use information from the meeting at the Jolly Beach Resort and Spa to move forward with the legislation or as the basis for consultation.

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