Sustainability and Competition Global Practice Guide |
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Trinidad and Tobago |
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| (Latin America/Caribbean) Firm Hamel-Smith Updated 06 Sep 2022 | |
| Are ESG measures/sustainability agreements included in your jurisdictional competition regime? | No. |
| If ESG measures/sustainability agreements are not included in your jurisdictional competition regime, do you foresee any new regulations coming into place in 2022? | No. |
| Has your Authority issued any guidance on the role, if any, of ESG in the competition law analysis applied to mergers or other conduct? | No. |
| Has your jurisdiction issued guidance regarding competitor collaborations or participating in industry working groups, and if so, do they specifically address ESG? | No. |
| Can parties seek specific guidance from authorities on proposed ESG initiatives? | Yes. The Commission is generally open to providing feedback and guidance on competition issues to parties on request. |
| How, if at all, does your jurisdiction quantify or calculate the ESG effects? | This is not factored in. |
| What does your legal authority currently permit even if your agency is not yet active on this topic? | There are no specific provisions permitting or restricting ESG measures. |
| Are there precedents that involved ESG/sustainability matters in your country? If so please provide a short description. | The Government has established a Vision 2030 plan which emphasizes the need to strengthen environmental governance and management systems with strategic initiatives to transform the public and private sectors in keeping with the United Nations 2030 agenda and goal for sustainable development. This would include a review of environmental policy and legislation to meet international best practices (see https://www.firstcitizensgroup.com/tt/news-insights/environmental-social-and-governance-esg/). The banking arm of a locally headquartered regional conglomerate has recently partnered with both a local foundation that focuses on sustainable agriculture, environmental governance and education for sustainable development of the Caribbean Region, and the Capitals Coalition (the global collaboration network that seeks to advance the capitals approach to decision making) to form the Caribbean Natural Capital Hub (see https://www.guardian.co.tt/business/ansa-merchant-launches-caribbean-natural-capital-hub-6.2.1518619.91507d623e). |
| Is there specific antitrust regulation in your jurisdiction to be aware of which might give rise to private or class action ESG litigation? | There is no specific antitrust regulation in Trinidad and Tobago which we are aware might give rise to private or class action ESG litigation. If any such litigation were to be instigated, we anticipate it might be brought under the broad oppression remedy under the Trinidad and Tobago Companies Act (Chap. 81:01 of the laws of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago). Note that under the Trinidad and Tobago Environmental Management Act, a private party may institute a civil action against any other person for a claimed violation of certain specified environmental requirements under the Act where the Authority has been notified of the same by the party and certain other requirements are met and where the Authority does not take action to enforce compliance within a specified timeframe. |
Sustainability and Competition Global Practice Guide
No.
No.
No.
No.
Yes. The Commission is generally open to providing feedback and guidance on competition issues to parties on request.
This is not factored in.
There are no specific provisions permitting or restricting ESG measures.
The Government has established a Vision 2030 plan which emphasizes the need to strengthen environmental governance and management systems with strategic initiatives to transform the public and private sectors in keeping with the United Nations 2030 agenda and goal for sustainable development. This would include a review of environmental policy and legislation to meet international best practices (see https://www.firstcitizensgroup.com/tt/news-insights/environmental-social-and-governance-esg/).
The banking arm of a locally headquartered regional conglomerate has recently partnered with both a local foundation that focuses on sustainable agriculture, environmental governance and education for sustainable development of the Caribbean Region, and the Capitals Coalition (the global collaboration network that seeks to advance the capitals approach to decision making) to form the Caribbean Natural Capital Hub (see https://www.guardian.co.tt/business/ansa-merchant-launches-caribbean-natural-capital-hub-6.2.1518619.91507d623e).
There is no specific antitrust regulation in Trinidad and Tobago which we are aware might give rise to private or class action ESG litigation. If any such litigation were to be instigated, we anticipate it might be brought under the broad oppression remedy under the Trinidad and Tobago Companies Act (Chap. 81:01 of the laws of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago). Note that under the Trinidad and Tobago Environmental Management Act, a private party may institute a civil action against any other person for a claimed violation of certain specified environmental requirements under the Act where the Authority has been notified of the same by the party and certain other requirements are met and where the Authority does not take action to enforce compliance within a specified timeframe.