Bridgetown- February 15th, 2018– The Canadian Government funded Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) Project hosted a 3 day meeting to review draft Model Business Names Registration and Trade Marks Legislation. The meeting was held in the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy & Services (SRC), The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, from February 13th to 15th, 2018.

Professor Velma Newton, Regional Project Director of the IMPACT Justice Project, chaired the meeting which was attended by Mrs. Lekeicha Caesar-Toney, Registrar, Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Offices (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Ms. Deborah Beckles, Deputy Registrar, Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Offices, (Barbados), Mr. Malcolm Spence, Senior Coordinator, Office of Intellectual Property, Science and Technology Issues of CARICOM, Mrs. Myrtle Brandt, Q.C., legislative drafter (Cayman Islands) and two senior attorneys-at-law, Mrs. Rosalind Smith-Millar, Partner, Clarke Gittens Farmer (Barbados), Mrs. Fiona Hinds, Partner, Carrington and Sealy (Barbados).

The meeting of February 13th – 15th, is the final committee meeting the Project will host to discuss Trade Marks and Business Name legislation as the committee was able to finalize the draft Bills which will be submitted to the Legal Affairs Committee (LAC) of CARICOM for approval as CARICOM Model Bills.

It is hoped that once approved by the LAC, all CARICOM member states will adopt the model legislation so that the CARICOM region will have harmonised Trade Marks and Business Names legislation which follow international best practice and comply with the international conventions and treaties to which most CARICOM member states have become parties.

Some feature of both pieces of model legislation are the introduction of provisions to treat with electronic filing of documents, improved accountability frameworks for administrators and the simplification of processes to be followed by parties who seek to do business at regional Corporate Registries and Intellectual Property Offices.