Independent Auditors’ Report

 

 

2nd Floor CIC Building
122-124 Frederick Street
Port of Spain
Trinidad and Tobago
Tel: +1 (868) 625 8662
Fax: +1 (868) 627 6515
www.bdo.tt

The Court President
The Caribbean Court of Justice

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Caribbean Court of Justice (the “Court”), which comprise the statement of financial position as at December 31, 2019, and the statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in accumulated fund, and statement of cash flows for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies.

In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Court as at December 31, 2019, and of its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”).

Basis for Opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (“ISAs”). Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements section of our report. We are independent of the Court in accordance with the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (“IESBA Code”) and we have fulfilled our ethical responsibilities in accordance with the IESBA Code. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Responsibilities of Management and Those Charged with Governance for the Financial Statements
Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in accordance with IFRS, and for such internal control as management determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

BDO, a Trinidad and Tobago partnership, is a member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the International BDO network of independent member firms.

BDO is the brand name for the BDO network and for each of the BDO Member Firms.

In preparing the financial statements, management is responsible for assessing the Court’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless management either intends to liquidate the Court or to cease operations or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

Those charged with governance are responsible for overseeing the Court’s financial reporting process.

Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.

Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs, we exercise professional judgment and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. We also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.
• Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Court’s internal control.
• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.
• Conclude on the appropriateness of management’s use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Court’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Court to cease to continue as a going concern.
• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

June 25, 2020
Port-of-Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago

Statements

Notes

Notes to the Financial Statements For the year ended December 31, 2019
(Expressed in Trinidad and Tobago Dollars)

1. Establishment and principal activity

The Caribbean Court of Justice (the “Court”) and the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (the “Commission”) were established on February 14, 2001, by the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice (the “Agreement”). The Agreement was signed on that date by the following Caribbean Community (“CARICOM”) states Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. Two further states, Dominica and St. Vincent & The Grenadines, signed the Agreement on February 15, 2003, bringing the total number of signatories to 12.

The Court was inaugurated on April 16, 2005, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

The first Commission came into force on August 21, 2003, and works to ensure that the Court meets and fully satisfies the expectations and needs of the people it serves.

The Court is the highest judicial tribunal, designed to be more than a Court of last resort for member states of the Caribbean Community. For, in addition to replacing the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Court is vested with original jurisdiction in respect of the interpretation and application of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas Establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. The Court is designed to exercise both an appellate and original jurisdiction.

The Court is primarily financed by the Caribbean Court of Justice Trust Fund (the “Trust Fund”). The Trust Fund was established by the CARICOM states signing the Agreement, who together invested US$100 million into the Trust Fund, which generates income to finance the expenditures of the Court and Commission.

2. Significant accounting policies

(a)  Basis of preparation

      The financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”), under the historical cost convention and are expressed in Trinidad & Tobago dollars, which is the Court’s functional and presentation currency.

(b)  Changes in accounting policy and disclosures

(i)   New and amended standards adopted by the Court

      The Court adopted IFRS 16 Leases with a transition date of January 1, 2019. There were no material changes to these financial statements resulting from the adoption of this new standard.

(ii)   New standards, amendments and interpretations issued but not effective and not early adopted

      There are no new standards, interpretations and amendments, which have not been applied in these financial statements which will or may have an effect on the Court’s future financial statements.

      Other standards, amendments and interpretations to existing standards in issue but not yet effective are not considered to be relevant to the Court and have not been disclosed.

(iii)  Standards and amendments to published standards early adopted by the Court

      The Court did not early adopt any new, revised or amended standards.

(c)  Use of estimates

      The preparation of these financial statements in conformity with IFRS requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of policies and reported amounts of assets, liabilities, income and expenses. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

      Estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognized in the period in which the estimates are revised and in any future periods affected. Information about critical judgements in applying accounting policies that have the most significant effect on the amounts recognized in the financial statements is included in the following notes:

Note (e)             Property, plant and equipment

Note (g)             Other receivables

Note (j)              Financial assets

Note (k)             Financial liabilities

Note (m)           Provisions

Note (n)             Employee benefits

(d) Foreign currency transactions

      Foreign currency transactions are translated into the functional currency using the exchange rates prevailing at the date of the transactions. Gains and losses resulting from the settlement of such transactions and from the translation of monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are recognised in the statement of comprehensive income. Year-end balances are translated at year-end exchange rates.

(e)  Property, plant and equipment

      Items of property, plant and equipment are measured at cost, net of accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses.

      Cost includes expenditure that is directly attributable to the acquisition of the asset. The cost of self-constructed assets includes the cost of material and direct labour, any other cost directly attributable to bringing the assets to a working condition for their intended use, the costs of dismantling and removing the items and restoring the site on which they are located and capitalized borrowing costs. Purchased software that is integral to the functionality of the related equipment is capitalized as part of the equipment.

      When parts of the items of property, plant and equipment have different useful lives, they are accounted for as separate items of property, plant and equipment.

      The gain or loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment is determined by comparing the proceeds from disposal with the carrying amount of the property, plant and equipment, and is recognized net within other income/other expenses in the statement of comprehensive income. When revalued assets are sold, any related amount included in the revaluation reserve is transferred to the accumulated fund.

      The cost of replacing a component of an item of property, plant and equipment is recognized in the carrying amount of the item if it is probable that the future economic benefits embodied within the component will flow to the Court, and its cost can be measured reliably. The carrying amount of the replaced component is derecognized. The costs of the day-to-day servicing of property, plant and equipment are recognized in the statement of comprehensive income as incurred.

      Depreciation is based on the cost of an asset less its residual value. Significant components of individual assets are assessed and if a component has a useful life that is different from the remainder of that asset, that component is depreciated separately. Depreciation is recognized in the statement of comprehensive income on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of each component of property, plant and equipment.

      Depreciation is charged using the straight-line method at the rate of 25% for all property, plant and equipment except for leasehold improvements (10%), which is designed to write off the cost of the assets over their estimated useful lives.

      Depreciation methods, useful lives and residual values are reviewed at each reporting date and adjusted if appropriate.

(f)   Impairment of non-financial assets

      The carrying amounts of the Court’s assets are reviewed at each reporting date to determine whether there is any indication of impairment. If such an indication exists, the asset’s recoverable amount is estimated.

      An impairment loss is recognised whenever the carrying amount of an asset or its cash-generating unit exceeds its recoverable amount. Impairment losses are recognized in the statement of comprehensive income.

      The recoverable amount of other assets is the greater of their net selling price and value in use. In assessing value in use, the estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present value using a discount rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the asset. For an asset that does not generate largely independent cash inflows, the recoverable amount is determined for the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs.

      An impairment loss is reversed if there has been a change in the estimates used to determine the recoverable amount. An impairment loss is reversed only to the extent that the asset’s carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined, net of depreciation or amortisation if no impairment loss had been recognized.

(g)  Other receivables

      Other receivables are stated net of any specific provision established to recognise anticipated losses for bad and doubtful debts. Bad debts are written off during the year in which they are identified.

(h)  Due (to)/from related party

      Due (to)/from related party is stated at cost.

(i)   Cash and cash equivalents

      For the purpose of the statement of cash flows, cash and cash equivalents comprise cash in hand and at bank, and cash deposited with money market income funds with an original maturity of three months or less.

(j)   Financial assets

      The Court classifies its financial assets at amortized cost. These assets arise principally from the Court’s normal operations (e.g. advances to staff and VAT recoverable) but also incorporate other types of financial assets where the objective is to hold these assets in order to collect contractual cash flows and the contractual cash flows are solely payments of principal and interest. They are initially recognized at fair value plus transaction costs that are directly attributable to their acquisition or issue and are subsequently carried at amortized cost using the effective interest rate method, less provision for impairment.

      Impairment provisions for financial assets other than related party balances are recognized based on the simplified approach within IFRS 9 using a provision matrix in the determination of the lifetime expected credit losses. During this process, the probability of the non-payment of the financial assets is assessed. This probability is then multiplied by the amount of the expected loss arising from default to determine the lifetime expected credit loss for the financial assets. For financial assets, which are reported net, such provisions are recorded in a separate provision account with the loss being recognized within cost of sales in the statement of comprehensive income. On confirmation that the financial assets will not be collectable, the gross carrying value of the asset is written off against the associated provision.

      Impairment provisions for receivables from related parties and loans to related parties are recognized based on a forward-looking expected credit loss model. The methodology used to determine the amount of the provision is based on whether there has been a significant increase in credit risk since initial recognition of the financial asset.  For those where the credit risk has not increased significantly since initial recognition of the financial asset, twelve months expected credit losses along with gross interest income are recognized.  For those for which credit risk has increased significantly, lifetime expected credit losses along with the gross interest income are recognized.  For those that are determined to be credit-impaired, lifetime expected credit losses along with interest income on a net basis are recognized.

      The Court’s financial assets measured at amortized cost comprise retirement benefits due from Trust Fund, other receivables, due from related parties and cash and cash equivalents in the statement of financial position.

(k)  Financial liabilities

      The Court classifies its financial liabilities as financial liabilities at amortised cost. This primarily consists of other payables.

      Payables and other short-term monetary liabilities are initially recognised at fair value and subsequently carried at amortised cost.

(l)   Accumulated fund

      The accumulated fund represents the excess (deficit) of funding received over (less than) expenditure.

(m) Provisions

      A provision is recognised if, as a result of a past event, the Court has a present legal or constructive obligation that can be estimated reliably, and it is probable that an outflow of economic benefits will be required to settle the obligation. Provisions are determined by discounting the expected future cash flows at a rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and, where appropriate, the risks specific to the liability. The unwinding of finance cost is recognized as a finance cost.

(n)  Employee benefits

      The Trust Fund had previously proposed that since the retirement arrangements of the Court are already funded from within the Trust Fund with a legislature from the Heads of Government to ensure that the resources are always adequate, the retirement benefits due to the judges and non-judicial staff should be paid from the Trust Fund as they fall due. These proposals were accepted by the Court. Refer to Notes 4 and 7.

(i)   Non-judicial staff pension plan

      The Court provides its non-judicial staff with a pension plan. Under this plan, the employees of the Court make contributions which are deducted from their salaries and are matched with employer contributions from the Court.

      Balances accumulated under this plan are calculated by an independent third-party administrator, in accordance with an agreed formula between the Court and their employees. The administrator advises the Court of the accumulated amounts at the end of each financial year.

      When a staff member reaches retirement, the Court’s actuary determines the pension entitlement for that employee based on their accumulated balance using appropriate actuarial assumptions. The Trust Fund, at the request of the Court, provides to the Court the funds necessary to pay the pension for each employee on this basis.

      However, since there is no separate external fund where the contributions are placed (other than the Trust Fund), under IAS 19 these arrangements are treated as a defined benefit obligation of the Court.

(ii)   Defined benefit plan

      The Court’s obligation in respect of the defined benefit pension plan for judges is calculated by estimating the amount of future benefit that judges have earned in return for their service in the current and prior periods; that benefit is discounted to determine its present value. The calculation is performed by the Court’s actuary using the projected unit credit method.

(o)  Taxation

      Pursuant to the terms of an agreement entered into on July 4, 2003, between the Court, the Commission and the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the Court is exempt from all direct and indirect taxes, duties and levies imposed in Trinidad and Tobago.

(p)  Revenue recognition

      Funds from the Caribbean Court of Justice Trust Fund

      Unconditional funding related to the ongoing operations of the Court is recognized in the statement of comprehensive income as income in the period in which the funds become receivable from the Trust Fund.

      Grants

      Subventions that compensate the Court for expenses incurred are recognized as income in the statement of comprehensive income on a systematic basis in the same periods in which the expenses are incurred.

      Grants that compensate the Court for the cost of an asset are recognized in the statement of comprehensive income as revenue on a systematic basis over the life of the asset.

      All other revenue is recorded on an accruals basis.

(q)  Administrative expenses

      Expenses are recorded at cost on the transaction date and are recognised on the accrual basis in the statement of comprehensive income.

Supplementary Financial Information (Expressed in United States Dollars)
For the year ended December 31, 2019

 

 

2nd Floor CIC Building
122-124 Frederick Street
Port of Spain
Trinidad and Tobago
Tel: +1 (868) 625 8662
Fax: +1 (868) 627 6515
www.bdo.tt

To the Court President

The Caribbean Court of Justice

We have audited the financial statements of the Caribbean Court of Justice for the year ended December 31, 2019, and have issued our report thereon dated June 25, 2020.

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatements.

We conducted our audit for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the financial statements of the Caribbean Court of Justice taken as a whole. The accompanying supplemental financial information, consisting of the statements of financial position, comprehensive income and changes in accumulated fund, is presented for the purpose of additional analysis in United States Dollars and should not be considered necessary to the presentation of the basic financial statements. This information has been subjected to the audit procedures applied to the basic financial statements and, in our opinion, is fairly presented, in all material respects, when taken as a whole with the basic financial statements.

June 25, 2020

Port of Spain,
Trinidad, West Indies