Dominica is poised to become the first Eastern Caribbean country and the fourth CARICOM member to adopt the Caribbean Court of Justice as its final appellate court, replacing the UK-based Privy Council.

Although Dominica has been politically independent of the UK since 1978, section 42.4 A of its Constitution requires that the Government write the British Government to seek its concurrence before the country severs itself from the Privy Council.

Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced Thursday that they had received a response earlier this month saying that the UK has no objection to Dominica making the CCJ its final appellate court. Now, a bill must be presented to Dominica’s Parliament to give effect to the change.

Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, has welcomed the news, saying, “This heralds a positive start to the year for the integration movement.”

He added that, “It is my hope that Dominica will lead the way for those other member states with similar constitutions. I look forward to the early passage of the required legislation, so that Dominica can join Barbados, Belize and Guyana in completing its circle of sovereignty.”

(Belize has been sending cases to the CCJ since May 2010.)

The CCJ was inaugurated in 2005. Whereas it serves as the final appellate court for only three of fifteen CARICOM countries, it is also the sole authority in its original jurisdiction, in interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which governs the regional integration movement, such as in the case of Jamaican Shanique Myrie of Jamaica versus Barbados.

Dominica’s Minister for Legal Affairs Ian Douglas has said that the country already contributes two million dollars (about US$750,000) every year to the running of the CCJ in its original jurisdiction, so if Dominica has an issue with Guyana or Trinidad or Antigua, it is the CCJ that is the final court to which such cases are taken for decisions on those issues among CARICOM nationals or CARICOM states.