The beginning

In 1972, Commonwealth Caribbean leaders at the Seventh Heads of Government Conference decided to transform the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) into a Common Market and establish the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), of which the Common Market would be an integral part.

The signing of the treaty establishing the Caribbean Community, Chaguaramas, July 4,1973, was a defining moment in the history of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Although a free-trade area had been established, CARIFTA did not provide for the free movement of labor and capital or the coordination of agricultural, industrial and foreign policies.

Objectives
The objectives of the Community, identified in Article 6 of the Revised Treaty are to improve: standards of living and work; the full employment of labor and other factors of production; accelerated, coordinated and sustained economic development and convergence; expansion of trade and economic relations with third states; enhanced levels of international competitiveness; organization for increased production and productivity; achievement of a greater measure of economic leverage and effectiveness of member states in dealing with third states, groups of states and entities of any description; and the enhanced co-ordination of member states’ foreign and foreign economic policies and enhanced functional co-operation.

Revision
In order to quicken the pace of integration, the West Indian Commission recommended basic and fundamental changes to the structure of the Community and in the arrangements for decision-making and implementation.

Heads of Government agreed with the general findings of the Commission and decided that among the changes that would be made to improve the structure and management of the Community, the Treaty of Chaguaramas would be revised, given the agreement to move from a Common Market to a Single Market and Single Economy and to reflect the new community structures.
The Treaty was revised through a series of protocols - legal instruments setting out the new rules - and in 2001, these protocols were integrated into the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community, including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). The following is the institutional structure of the Community as set out in the Revised Treaty:

Principal organs
• The Conference of Heads of Government (and its Bureau).
• The Community Council of Ministers (The Community Council).
The principal organs are assisted by four ‘organs’, three ‘bodies’ and by the CARICOM Secretariat - ‘the Principal Administrative Organ’. The organs are:
• The Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP).
• The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).
• The Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR).
• The Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD).

The main bodies:
• The Legal Affairs Committee: provides legal advice to the organs and bodies of the Community.
• The Budget Committee: examines the draft budget and work programme of the Secretariat and submits recommendations to the Community Council.
• The Committee of Central Bank Governors: provides recommendations to the COFAP on monetary and financial matters.
(Source: CARICOM Secretariat, 2007)