Signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas that established the Caribbean Community and Common Market was a decisive moment in the history of the Commonwealth Caribbean, as it had to provide for free movement of capital and labor, as well as coordination of industrial, agricultural and foreign policies.
Article 6 of Revised Treaty is dedicated to goals and objectives of CARICOM which can be defined as following: full employment of labor and other factors of production; improvement of standards of work and living; coordinated and accelerated economic development; expansions of economic relations and trade with third States; organization for increased productivity and production; achievement of greater effectiveness of its members in dealing with third States and groups of states; and enhanced coordination of foreign policies of Member States.
In July 2001, a Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas was signed by the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community at the Conference in Nassau. One of its parts was the establishment and implementation of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
The current CARICOM membership is composed of fifteen full members, including Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Jamaica, Haiti, Guyana, Grenada, Dominica, Belize, Barbados, Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda. In addition, there are five associate members: Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos Islands and British Virgin Islands, and seven observers, namely Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Netherlands Antilles, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Aruba.
According to the revised Treaty, CARICOM was reorganized into the state-like structure, composed of the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The legislature is represented by the Community Council, which consists of Ministers responsible for Community Affairs. It is supported by four branches:
- The Council for Finance and Planning,
- The Council for Foreign and Community Relations,
- The Council for Trade and Economic Development
- And the Council for Human and Social Development.
Additionally, there exist three supporting bodies, namely the Legal Affairs Committee, the Budget Committee, and the Committee of Central Bank Governors. The executive branch is represented by a prime ministerial Chairmanship of CARICOM, the CARICOM Secretary and the CARICOM Headquarters Secretariat.
The Caribbean Court of Justice is the only body of the judiciary branch, acting as the jurisdiction for dispute settlement on the functioning of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy. It is based in Trinidad and Tobago.
Some of the Caribbean Community Institutions include Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency, Caribbean Meteorological Institute, Caribbean Environment Health Institute, Caribbean Food Corporation, Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute, Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians, Caribbean Center for Development Administration, Caribbean Examination Council, Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute and Caribbean Court of Justice.