The OHADAC project team is pleased to announce the signing of the FEDER Agreement between the Chamber of Commerce of the Islands of Guadeloupe (CCIIG) and the European Union on March 5, 2020.

A ceremony to launch the OHADAC Centre for Regional Arbitration (CARO) was held at the World Trade Centre Complex in Jarry, Guadeloupe, in the presence of Gilles BAJAZET, director of the Joint Secretariat of the European Union in Guadeloupe; Patrick VIAL COLLET, CCIIG president; Catherine SARGENTI, president of ACP Legal; and Shan GREER, president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Caribbean branch, a partner in the OHADAC project.

The following were represented at the event: members of the Bar of Guadeloupe, St Martin and St Barthélémy; representatives from MEDEF and the Guadeloupe Centre for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses; BPI France; and other actors in the local economy.

The CARO Centre, whose offices will be in Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, and at the World Trade Centre Complex in Jarry, will officially open in the coming weeks. It will provide effective, accessible “tailor-made” alternative dispute resolution techniques to businesses of all sizes.

The services on offer will cover the entire range of alternative dispute resolution methods, including jointly-agreed expert assessment, mediation and arbitration to offer assistance to companies at every stage of their local, regional and international development.

Marie-Camille Pitton, former advisor to the International Chamber of Commerce, will occupy the role of secretary general, since she has been head of the arbitration and mediation component of the OHADAC project since 2018.

The first phase of the OHADAC project, which came to an end in 2015, drew up harmonised legislation on business law, overcoming the fragmentation between the region's different legal systems. Some of this legislation has been adopted by the Caribbean states. Regulation on ad hoc arbitration has also been drafted and a number of arbitration processes are currently underway in the region using these provisions.