The Commissioners

Article 172 of Chapter VIII of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, requires, inter alia, that collectively, the members of the Commission possess expertise or experience in commerce, finance, economics, law, Competition Policy and practice, international trade and such other areas of expertise or experience as may be necessary. Commissioners are appointed for a term of five years, renewable for a further period of not more than five years, as shall be determined by the RJLSC.

The current Chairman and Commissioners are:

Chairman Justice Christopher Blackman  

July 12, 2018 to Present                                                                                                

The Chairman is a former non-resident Justice of Appeal of the Belize Court of Appeal, was appointed to that post on October 1, 2014 for a period of three (3) years. Prior to that, he was a Justice of the Court of Appeal of The Bahamas, serving from March 1, 2008 to December 5, 2014. He served as a High Court Judge of Barbados (2003-2008) and Belize (2001-2003). Justice Blackman who qualified as a Solicitor in 1970 was in private practice as partner and later Managing Partner of the law firm of Carrington & Sealy (established in August 1872). He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1987, served as President of the Barbados Bar Association (1983-86) and as an Independent Senator (1986-1990) in the Barbados Parliament. He was a former Deputy Chairman of Barbados Shipping &Trading Company Limited, Chairman of the Nation Publishing Company Limited and a director of CIBC (West Indies) Holdings Limited. From 1985 to 1992 he served as Chairman of the Caribbean Council of Legal Education and from 1996 to 2001 as Chairman of the Police Service Commission. He has also been a Trustee and Synod member of the Anglican Church. Currently, Mr. Justice Blackman is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Barbados Diabetes Foundation, a Governor of the Ursuline Schools, and since its inception in 2005 a member of the Eminent Persons Panel of the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence. In the 2000 Barbados Independence Honours List, he was awarded the Gold Crown of Merit for law and public service.

 Commissioner Anthony P. La Ronde

July 12, 2018 to Present

Anthony P. La Ronde, Barrister at Law, Solicitor Mediator and Notary Public was called to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Dominica) in 1985. He holds a B.A. General and B.A. Honours in History from the University of Waterloo, with a minor in Political Science. He read law at the University of the West Indies and was awarded the LLB degree. Thereafter he obtained the Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School. Mr. La Ronde pursued post graduate studies at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. He holds an advanced Diploma in legislative drafting. From 1971 to 2002 Mr. La Ronde worked in the public service of the Commonwealth of Dominica first as a teacher at the primary and high school levels and thereafter as a Barrister at Law and Solicitor. Mr. La Ronde has been a Teaching Assistant in History at the University of Waterloo and a Tutor in Law at the University of the West Indies - Cave Hill Campus and in Political Science at the St Augustine Campus in Trinidad. He lectured in Law at the University of Guyana. As a Barrister at Law and Solicitor he held the positions, on full establishment, as a State Attorney, Parliamentary Draftsman, Chief Parliamentary Draftsman and Attorney General in the Commonwealth of Dominica. As the Attorney General he was a Member of Parliament and the Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Dominica from 1995 to 2002. He also held temporary appointments as Magistrate, Registrar General of the Supreme Court and Director of Public Prosecutions. From 2003 he was a Senior Draftsperson - Legal Consultant at the CARICOM Secretariat. From 2005 to 2009 he was the Officer in Charge/Director of the CARICOM Legislative Drafting Facility at the Secretariat. He has been a legislative drafting consultant for the OECS Supreme Court, ECTEL, CFTC/St Lucia and the Government of Anguilla/Social Security Board. From January 2016 to January 2018 he served the Government of Anguilla in the capacity of Chief Parliamentary Counsel. Mr. La Ronde holds five specialist Practice Diplomas from the International Bar Association and the College of Law of England and Wales. The Specialist Practice Diplomas are in:

  • •    International Business Organizations
    •    International Mergers and Acquisitions
    •    International Joint Ventures
    •    International Arbitration
    •    International Competition Law
    Consequently he was made a FELLOW of the International Bar Association on the 18th day of October, 2007.
    In 2016 Mr La Ronde completed the Leading People and Teams Specialisation with the University of Michigan. He is also a Notary Public and a Mediator on the roster of the OECS Supreme Court.
    Mr. La Ronde has been involved in numerous regional and international negotiations. As a legal practitioner he has appeared before the Magistrate's Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Commissioner Decourcey Eversley

October 2015 to Present

Attorney-at-Law, DeCourcey Eversley, is the former Director of Fair Competition at the Barbados Fair Trading Commission, where he was advisor to the Commission on Competition Law and Policy for over ten years. He is currently in private practice specialising in Civil and Company Law and is a Non-Governmental Advisor with the International Competition Network (ICN). He holds a BSc. Degree in Economics and a MSc. Degree in Industrialisation, Trade and Economic Policy. He also holds a LLB Degree, and a MA. Degree in EC Competition Law from King’s College – University of London.

 

Commissioner Nestor Alfred

 October 2015 to Present

Nestor Alfred is a Financial/Management Consultant. He has had extensive experience within the financial services sector in areas ranging from auditing; banking (offshore/domestic); taxation and financial regulation/supervision. He has also acquired expertise in the area of Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism. He is a trained AML/CFT Mutual Evaluator (IMF/World Bank) and served as the financial expert for Guyana’s first Mutual Evaluation conducted by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force.  Prior to being a Consultant, he served as an Executive within the East Caribbean Financial Holding Group;  a former Director of St. Lucia Financial Sector Supervision and Registrar of Insurance; former Assistant Comptroller of Inland Revenue- St. Lucia and former banker. He holds a BSC. (Management Studies) from University of The West Indies and MBA from Henley Management College/Brunel University (UK).

 Commissioner Andrew Downes

January 2017 to Present

Professor Andrew Downes was appointed to the Barbados Fair Trading Commission at its inception in 2001, and became Deputy Chairman in 2006. He served as a member of the telecommunications and fair competition/consumer protection panels. An economist and academic by profession, Professor Downes was the Director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), at the University of the West Indies(UWI), Cave Hill Campus, Barbados and  Pro Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development at the UWI.   He is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill in Barbados, where he attained both a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Master of Science in Economics. He is also a graduate of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom where he attained a Doctorate in Economics. He is a Fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Science and a Research Associate of the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance. Professor Downes was an Advisor to the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery. He has also served as the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, as well as the Chairman of the Cave Hill Campus Research Fund. He has been a member of the Board of the Central Bank of Barbados, a director of the Barbados Port Authority and Chairman of the National Productivity Council. He has served as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Caribbean Centre for Monetary Studies and a member of the Regional Advisory Group of the Western Hemisphere of the IMF. He is the author of several publications and reports on Caribbean development issues.

Commissioner Emalene Marcuss-Burnett

January 2017 to Present

Mrs. Emalene Marcus-Burnett  holds a BSc. in Economics and Accounting from the University of the West Indies, a MSc. in Financial Economics and an LLM in International Trade Law from the University of London. Her areas of study included Competition Law and Investment Law. Mrs. Marcus-Burnett has been involved in agriculture policy formulation and analysis, and has extensive experience in trade negotiations, having been involved in, inter alia, the agricultural negotiations under the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and multilateral trade negotiations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Mrs. Marcus-Burnett has served as WTO Chair of the Committee on Agriculture (Regular Session) and Rapporteur of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Committee on Youth Unemployment.

Commissioner Timothy Jonas

October 2018 to Present

A partner at the firm of de Caires Fitzpatrick & Karran in Guyana specializing in Commercial Law.  Mr. Jonas was educated at the University of the West Indies (Cave Hill) in Barbados and the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago. He has twenty years as a practicing attorney since being admitted to the Guyana Bar in 1996. He has served on the board of directors of private and public companies in Guyana.
Mr. Jonas in private practice has been involved in litigation dealing with claims of abuse of dominant positions in areas of commerce in Guyana under the Competition and Fair Trading Act, 2006. He also has experience in the areas of finance, international trade, anti-dumping and consumer protection policies.
In 2015, he was appointed Chairman of the Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission (CCAC) of Guyana, which is the national body created to enforce competition and consumer protection legislation. The CCAC is empowered to conduct hearings of complaints, to issue Summonses, to hear and examine witnesses, and to make orders for the protection of consumers. As Chairman, he was directly involved in the execution of those functions, and conducted hearings to conclusion and delivered decisions.
Mr. Jonas has an interest in the area of geographic trademark registrations rights as a means of ensuring CARICOM products benefit from the signature goodwill which is associated with the region.
Mr. Jonas considers that an important part of ensuring fair trading practices in the region includes effective enforcement of competition and consumer protection legislation.

The original team of part-time Commissioners took the oath of Office on the date of inauguration in 2008: Kusha Haraksingh PhD as Chairman; Mr. Patterson Cheltenham G.C.M., Q.C; Mr. Hans Lim A Po ; Dr. Maureen Paul; Ambassador A.B. Stewart Stephenson;Barton Scotland PhD and Dr. Trevor Farrel. Appointments were made by the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission, (RJLSC).