Dominica’s Parliament has approved a bill to make the Caribbean Court of Justice the country’s final court of appeal.

Speaking to the House of Assembly this week, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said the move made this an “historic time.”

When completed, Dominica’s decision would make it the first country within the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States to accede to the CCJ, which is seated in Trinidad.

The country first announced the plan to introduce such a bill in March.

Thus far, Barbados, Belize and Guyana have signed on to the court as their final court of appeal, replacing the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.

In 2012, Trinidad announced it would be sending criminal, but not civil, appeals to the CCJ.

In May, nearby St Lucia also announced plans to accede to the CCJ.