CITS

CARICOM Project

Enhancing Strategic Trade Controls in the CARICOM Community through Legal?Regulatory Assistance

Project Scope

The project is in response to the request for assistance by the CARICOM Community to the UNSCR 1540 Committee. It aims to help the 15 member states meet their legislative obligations under Security Council Resolution 1540.

The effort is funded by the US Department of State’s Office of Export Control Cooperation, under its Export Control and Related Border Security or EXBS program, and supported by the US Department of State’s Office of the 1540 Coordinator.

The project envisages a central role for the CARICOM 1540 Coordinator — Mr. O’Neil Hamilton — as a facilitator and 1540 Advisor. His work is currently funded by the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Time Line: July 2010 — December 2011

Project Director: Dr. Seema Gahlaut, Assistant Director, CITS

Project Coordinator: Mr. Christopher Tucker, Research Associate, CITS

It will involve the following activities by CITS:

1. Review of the national legal bases for strategic trade controls in each of the 15 Member States, with a view to identifying regulatory gaps.

2. Drafting of model legislation designed to provide a framework for UNSCR 1540 implementation throughout the region.

Project Objective

The primary objective of the CARICOM project is to foster a regional approach to economic integration and strategic trade control reform with the goal of facilitating legislative drafting processes and developing regulatory mechanisms aimed at fulfilling the CARICOM Community member states’ compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540. Furthermore, the resulting model legal instrument will be sensitive to regional trade and security needs while seeking to integrate or leverage from current CARICOM legal harmonization efforts/initiatives.

The project is a unique undertaking: it is the first region-wide attempt in the world to establish legal framework for implementation of Resolution 1540, as a response to a request from a regional organization.

Accordingly, CITS has placed a lot of emphasis on inclusiveness:
1. Keep in mind perspectives and priorities of the CARICOM states
2. Get input from all relevant inter- and non-governmental experts
3. Provide periodic updates to the concerned parties
4. Organize Workshop #1 to present findings on Gap Analysis
5. Organize Workshop #2 to present a Model Law