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Press Release:CARICOM Competition Commission Appoints New Chairman And Member

PRESS RELEASE

July 26, 2018

CARICOM COMPETITION COMMISSION APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMAN AND MEMBER

The CARICOM Competition Commission (CCC) is pleased to announce the appointment of new Chairman Justice Christopher Blackman (Ret.) and Member, Mr. Anthony LaRonde. The Commissioners were sworn in by the Honorable Mr. Justice Adrian Saunders, President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and Chairman of the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC), and witnessed by outgoing Chairman of the CCC, Dr. Kusha Haraksingh.

Mr. Justice Christopher Blackman, GCM is a former non-resident Justice of Appeal of the Belize Court of Appeal who served from October 1, 2014 to September 2017. He was also 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). 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. In the 2000 Barbados Independence Honours List, he was awarded the Gold Crown of Merit for law and public service.

Anthony P. La Ronde is a Barrister at Law, Solicitor Mediator and Notary Public and was called to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Dominica) in 1985. 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 (1995 to 2002) in the Commonwealth of Dominica. From 2005 to 2009 he was the Officer in Charge/Director of the CARICOM Legislative Drafting Facility at the Secretariat. From January 2016 to January 2018, he served the Government of Anguilla in the capacity of Chief Parliamentary Counsel.

The incoming Commissioners have been appointed for a term of five years in the first instance. They join sitting Commissioners Mr. Eversley Decourcey, Mr. Nestor Alfred, Professor Andrew Downes and Emalene Marcus-Burnett.

The CCC was established to enforce Community Competition Policy under Chapter 8 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. The CCC’s principle functions are to apply the rules of competition to anti-competitive cross-border business conduct, promote and protect competition in the Community, and to use advocacy to support and assist Member States in protecting consumers in the CSME.