CARICOM - Caribbean Community and Common Market CHAPTER IV GENERAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS ARTICLE 20 LEGAL CAPACITY 1. The Community shall have full juridical personality. 2. Each Member State shall in its territory accord to the Community the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under its municipal laws including the capacity to acquire and transfer moveable and immovable property and to sue and be sued in its own name. In any legal proceedings the Community shall be represented by the Secretary General of the Secretariat. 3. The Community may enter into agreement with Member States, non-Member States and International Organisations. 4. Each Member State hereby agrees to take such action as is necessary to make effective in its territory the provisions of this Article and shall promptly inform the Secretariat of such action. ARTICLE 21 PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES 1. The privileges and immunities to be recognised and granted by the Member States in connection with the Community shall be laid down in a Protocol to this Treaty. 2. The Community shall conclude with the Government of the Member States in which the headquarters of the Secretariat is situated an agreement relating to the privileges and immunities to be recognized and granted in connection with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 22 SIGNATURE This Treaty shall be open for signature on the 4th July, 1973 by any State mentioned in paragraph l(a) of Article 2 of this Treaty. ARTICLE 23 RATIFICATION This Treaty and any amendments thereto shall be subject to ratification by the Contracting States in accordance with their respective constitutional procedures. Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretariat which shall transmit certified copies to the Government of each Member State. ARTICLE 24 ENTRY INTO FORCE This Treaty shall enter into force on the Ist August 1973; if instruments of ratification have been previously deposited in accordance with Article 23 of this treaty by the States mentioned in Article 2 paragraph l(a) (iii), (vii), (viii) and (xiii), and if not, then on such later date on which the fourth such instrument has been so deposited. ARTICLE 25 REGISTRATION This Treaty and any amendments thereto shall be registered with the Secretariat of the United Nations. ARTICLE 26 AMENDMENTS 1. Save as otherwise provided for in Article 66 of the Annex, upon a decision of the Conference for this purpose, this Treaty may be amended by the Contracting Parties. 2. Any such amendment shall enter into force one month after the date on which the last of the instruments of Ratification is deposited. 3. Notwithstanding paragraph I hereof no amendments may be made to the Treaty prior to May 1. 1974. ARTICLE 27 WITHDRAWAL 1. A Member State may withdraw from the Community by giving notice in writing to the Secretariat and the Secretariat shall promptly notify the other Member States. Such withdrawal shall take effect 12 months after the notice is received by the Secretariat. 2. A Member State so withdrawing undertakes to honour any financial obligations duly assumed during its membership of the Community. ARTICLE 28 NEGOTIATION AND CONCLUSION OF AGREEMENTS 1. For the purpose of negotiating agreements, the Conference may designate any institution of the Community to carry out negotiations. 2. Unless otherwise determined by the Conference in any particular case, the conclusion of agreements by the Community shall be undertaken by the Conference. ARTICLE 29 ACCESSION TO THE TREATY 1. Any State or Territory of the Caribbean Region may apply to the Conference to become a member of the Community and may, if the Conference so decides, be admitted to membership in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article. 2. Admission to membership shall be upon such terms and conditions as the Conference may decide and shall take effect from the date on which an appropriate instrument of accession is deposited with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 30 ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP 1. Any State which in the opinion of the Heads of Government Conference is qualified for membership of the Community in accordance with paragraph l(b) of Article 2 of this Treaty may, upon application to the Conference for associate membership of the Community, be admitted as an associate member of the Community in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article. 2. On an application made under paragraph I of this Article the Conference shall determine the conditions under which the applicant State may be associated with the Community. ARTICLE 31 SAVING 1. Member States that are not also members of the Common Market shall not be entitled to participate in the decisions taken under the Treaty relating to the Common Market. 2. Decisions taken under this Treaty requiring such action shall be subject to the relevant constitutional procedures of the respective Member States. 3. Where necessary, Member States undertake to take steps as expeditiously as possible to give full effect in law to all decisions of the organs and institutions of the Community which are binding on them. 4. Member States shall not participate in decisions with respect to the subject of which they do not possess the necessary competence. ARTICLE 32 STATUS OF THE ANNEX AND SCHEDULE The Annex and Schedule to this Treaty shall form an integral part of this Treaty. ARTICLE 33 GENERAL PROVISIONS OF THE COMMON MARKET The provisions of the Annex shall govern the establishment, membership and operation of the Common Market. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, being duly authorised thereto by their respective Governments, have affixed their signatures below this Treaty. Done at Chaguaramas on the fourth day of July in the year one thousand nine hundred and seventy-three. Signed by ERROL W. BARROW for the Government of Barbados Signed by L.F.S. BURNHAM for the Government of Guyana on 4TH JULY 1973 on 4TH JULY 1973. Signed by MICHAEL MANLEY Signed by ERIC WILLIAMS for the Government of Jamaica for the Government of Trinidad and Tobago on 4TH JULY 1973. on 4TH JULY, 1973. Continue on to Annex