Strengthening Regulatory Environment for Business
Rules and procedures were developed for implementation in four key areas of public procurement administration. These are challenge and review, complaints handling, compliance, and eligibility and disqualification of suppliers. The rules and procedures have been finalized by the Permanent Joint Council on Public Procurement (PJC). Ultimate approval is granted by the Contracting Parties to the Community Public Procurement Protocol. Eight Member States thus far have signed the Protocol and Declaration of Intent to Provisionally Apply the Public Procurement Protocol. Barbados and Belize have ratified the Protocol. At least, three more Member States must submit ratification instruments to the Secretariat for the Entry into Force of the Protocol.
Rules of procedure, Cooperation Agreement Frameworks and Memoranda of Understanding were prepared to enforce the rules of competition in the CSME. Stakeholders met on 6-7 November 2025 to discuss and recommend changes to these instruments. The next steps are legal vetting by the Office of the Counsel General at the Secretariat and the submission to the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) and the Legal Affairs Committee (LAC) for approval. Additionally, nine officials from Member States were engaged in a capacity building and institutional strengthening study tour that related to the investigation of competition matters. The first cohort of six visited the United States Federal Trade Commission (USFTC), the US Department of Justice (USDOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other allied agencies from the 9th to the 19th of April 2024. The second cohort participated in a study tour on competition law and policy in Brasilia, Brazil from 8-11 December 2025.
Draft Bills relating to harmonized legislation for companies and partnerships and model insolvency laws and regulations were prepared and revised following national and regional consultations in 2023. The next step is for the Senior Officials of the Legal Affairs Committee (SOLAC) and the LAC to give their endorsement for adoption of the draft models Bills by Member States.
Online platforms for the company registries in St. Kitts, Nevis, Grenada and Guyana were developed between May and December 2025.
Feasibility Study for the establishment of a regional trademarks administration was conducted during the period June 2022 and March 2023.
The extensive target and beneficiary groups include, among others, procuring entities; the private sector; competition, trade and consumer affairs policy officials; commissioners of competition commissions and allied agencies (regulators); Company and Intellectual Property Registers; attorneys; and civil society.
