Strengthening the economic integration of the entire Caribbean region
The UIHJ has been involved for many years with Ohada in the African region making the Ohadac project of great interest to the UIHJ.
OHADAC stands for Organisation pour L'HArmonisation du Droit des Affaires dans la Caraïbe. Translated this means the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in the Caribbean. The 30 Caribbean states involved in the project are:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Netherlands Antilles
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- French Guiana
- Haïti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Martinique
- Mexico
- Montserrat
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Porto Rico
- Dominican Republic
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Saint Lucia
- Suriname
- Trindad and Tobago
- Venezuela
Catherine Sargenti of ACP Legal on the island of Guadeloupe created the program. The web site of OHADAC states: “This program OHADAC, will strengthen the economic integration of the entire Caribbean region, like the reform OHADA for Africa, the process OHADAC will also allow the region to have an internationally respected and recognized right, reinforcing investor confidence and trade.”
Our colleague, Sue Collins, member of the board of the UIHJ, is in charge of getting contacts with representatives of the countries of the region. The aim of the UIHJ is to provide its services to all countries of the world and it needs to make itself known in the region.
The island of St Lucia was the first visit within this project, in September 2011. Ms Alana Simmons at the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court is currently the person in charge of the Judicial Education Institute at the Supreme Court located in Castries, St Lucia. The Institute provides for the education and ongoing training of judicial officers on the islands of Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts, Nevis, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, St Lucia, and the Virgin Islands. The Judicial Education Institute also provides training and education for the judges and all court staff on these islands. Ms Simmons has completed a training manual with the policy and procedures governing the office of judicial officer, which will be approved and finalized in the near future. Once the training manual is approved, training session for the judicial officers' will begin.
The Registrar's office supervises the judicial officers. Ms. Kimberly Phulgence, the High Court Registrar explained that there are 1 or 2 judicial officers employed in each court that handle the service of process emanating out of the court. The judicial officer, by law, handles documents that have been issued by the court, or mandated by law to the judicial officer for service. She explained that there are police, attorneys and private process servers who also handle process on the islands in addition to the judicial officer, but only process that is not mandated by law to the judicial officer. They may also serve process that began with a “claim form”. Private servers may not seize or sell property to satisfy the debt - only the judicial officer has this authority.
A very well organized system
The island of Martinique was the next stop where Sue Collins, the UIHJ delegate visited the offices of Seilhan, Sillon, Lavigne. Phlippe Seilhan, the President of the Martinique and Guyana Chambers and Christophe Seillon, an associate in the office welcomed her to their office for a day of training in the enforcement system on the island of Martinique.
The office of Seilhan, Sillon, Lavigne is located in La Trinité, Martinique and consists of 3 associates and 15 employees - 10 inside the office and 5 in the field. The Jurisdiction of the office covers all regions on the island of Martinique. They are a full-service office offering all services necessary to carry on the work of a Huissier de Justice. The office is set up to accept payments, track cases, locate debtors, seize property, store and auction vehicles and any other service requested by their clients.
Creole and French are spoken by most inhabitants of the island and the work of the Huissier here is difficult. Outside the city, there are no addresses - just the name of the person they are searching for and the area they live in. The server must either know where to find the debtor, or speak with others in the area to locate the residence. Debtors are allowed to keep their seized property while they are making payments toward the judgment, or they make keep the property for 30 days while they make an effort to sell the property in question to pay the debt. Vehicles seized are held in secured storage lots and an auction is held each month.
The island of Martinique is part of France, therefore the enforcement officers on Martinique function under the French system of Huissiers de Justice. Martinique has 19 Huissiers on the island that has a population of 400,000 people and consists of 36 cities. Until just this year, there was one major court location on the island, but recently several smaller local courts have been established to handle some of the case load. There is also an enforcement profession called Huissiers du Tresor. These officers are employed by the court and handle government and city documents such as tax collection.
The organization on Martinique belongs to the French Chamber of Huissiers de Justice headquartered in Paris, France with Barbara Sigari, acting as the delegate in attendance at all of the chamber meetings in Paris. The Martinique organization is extremely well organized with regular meetings and audits. The Bureau meets each week and the combined chambers of both Martinique and Guyana meet once a year in October.
The UIHJ will proceed with the Ohadac project beginning with the study and research of the system of enforcement in each of the Caribbean states with the goal of training, education, harmonization and cooperation between the states. The UIHJ is offering its resources to this area whenever and wherever needed. Island such as Martinique that are very well trained and organized are asked to help with seminars and training for islands and states which have little or no training. The UIHJ will also approach other organizations in the Caribbean area to develop a relationship between legal professions for the benefit of all.
This is the first of several articles reporting on this project and the discoveries made in the states of the Caribbean.
