T he Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is an international court headquartered in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The CCJ has both a Community treaty jurisdiction (much like the European Court of Justice does for the European Union), in which it interprets and applies the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (RTC), and a final appellate jurisdiction to which four Caribbean States – Barbados, Belize, Dominica and Guyana – currently subscribe. The Court’s personnel complement extends to approximately 80 staff members, including seven judges. The year 2020 has been irremovably etched into the annals of the history of the Court, not least because of the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the region and the world. On April 16, 2020, the CCJ marked 15 years of service to the people and States of CARICOM. This milestone came just over a month after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. infrastructure. More importantly, the Court has at all times sought to fulfil its published vision statement – “To be a model of judicial excellence”. For some years now, the CCJ's filing, case processing and case management systems have been electronic or automated. Technology has also been used as one of the ways in which the Court has promoted the principle of open justice. The onset of the pandemic therefore did not significantly impact the CCJ’s capacity to continue with its schedule of sittings and other work. However, the new situation posed by the pandemic required the CCJ to go one step further. Before the pandemic, the CCJ's judges, On April 16, 2020, the CCJ marked 15 years of service to the people and States of CARICOM The CCJ was well placed to respond to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic for several reasons. Since its inception, the Court has had to cater to the geography of its customers ranging from Belize in Central America, to Suriname and Guyana on the South American mainland and Barbados in the Eastern Caribbean. The CCJ has always, therefore, paid great attention to its information and communications technology registry and information systems staff typically assembled together at the court building during hearings, even if the litigants and the lawyers appeared by video conference. However, with the onset of the pandemic, the CCJ adopted a more expansive use of an online productivity tool, which had previously been used to support collaboration and communication among staff, by deploying it to facilitate fully virtual court sittings. With this transition, hearings are now being conducted completely using video conferencing technology with all judges, the lawyers and almost all registry and information technology-support staff participating from their respective homes or offices. The judges of the CCJ also conduct pre- and post- hearing deliberations online. Naturally, hearings have continued to be live-streamed. Continues on next page 6
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