ABOUT THE METRICATION PROCESS
The CARICOM Region had taken the decision from as far back as 1969 to move as a group to the metric system and significant work had begun. This process slowed when most Member States sometime thereafter decided not to proceed. Certain critical CARICOM instruments however, such as the Common External Tariff (CET) have essentially been constructed on the metric system.
The records indicate that in 1974 the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda decided to officially commence proceedings leading to conversion from the imperial to the Standard International (S.I.) System of measurements. While the majority of the larger CARICOM Countries had enacted the necessary legislation and organized institutional arrangements for implementing the changeover to the metric system in the case of most of the OECS Countries even though having taken the decision to convert little progress had been made towards implementation.
It was under these circumstances that the CARICOM Secretariat, with the approval of the OECS Member States, sought and obtained in 1983 the services of a CFTC Metrication Consultant to advise and assist the OECS Member States in furthering their metrication programmes. The Consultant was based at the CARICOM Secretariat for one year and, to increase his accessibility to the Sub-region, was - with the necessary approvals from all sides- was relocated to Antigua and Barbuda for a second year. On the basis of his study, the Consultant had drafted model weights and measures legislation for consideration by the relevant authorities in the OECS. Efforts were also made to reactivate National Metrication Boards and Steering Committees which, in some cases, had virtually ceased operations. That consultancy was ended in 1985 and a number of Countries in the OECS have still not implemented the programme.
Most Countries worldwide have adopted the International System of weights and measures which is simple and coherent and based on the easy to understand decimal system. This development, internationally, holds significant implications for all CARICOM Countries with respect to trade with their major trading partners, including those within the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The CSME will permit entrepreneurs to trade freely without hindrance,
establish and service markets and clients in other Member
States, attract capital or invest or use funds in another State and hire
from or work in another State.
The fifteen (15) Caribbean economies involved in the exercise have agreed to implement provisions to create the CSME by the end of December 2005.
