Competence & Jurisdiction

The CSAT is competent to hear applications brought by three categories of persons namely:

(a) a member of staff of the Commonwealth Secretariat

(b) the Commonwealth Secretariat

(c) any person who enters into a contract in writing with the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The Tribunal may also hear applications arising out of disputes involving other Commonwealth international or intergovernmental organizations which agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the CSAT.

The jurisdiction of the CSAT may be invoked by any of the above categories of persons in the event of the non-observance of a contract to which the Commonwealth Secretariat and the complainant are party. The jurisdiction includes complaints concerning, in relation to contracts of service, the non-observance of the contract of employment or terms of appointment of the aggrieved member of staff, and in relation to contracts for services, the non-observance of the terms of the contract.

The CSAT has a full complement of eight members comprising the President and seven other members. The members are selected by Commonwealth Governments on a regionally representative basis from among persons of high moral character who must hold or have held high judicial office in a Commonwealth country or who are jurisconsults with at least ten years experience. The members are appointed on a four year term which may be renewed only once. To consider a case before it, the Tribunal is normally composed of a panel of three including the President and two other members selected by the President.

The judgments of the Tribunal are available in the English language only and may be accessed here