18.1 Any dispute that may arise regarding the interpretation and application of this Treaty shall, where parties to the dispute belong to the category of eligible parties under Article 18.5, upon the request of any of them, be amicably resolved by consultation.
18.2 If the dispute is not resolved within a waiting period of 3 months of the date on which the request referred to in the preceding paragraph has been made, any eligible party to the dispute may submit it to the procedures provided for in the Dispute Settlement Annex by submitting a request to that effect to the Director-General and informing the other party or parties to the dispute of the request. Where the Organisation is a party to the dispute, the functions of the Director-General under this Article shall be exercised by the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal through the Chief Registrar.
18.3 Any eligible party to a dispute may before the expiration of the waiting period of 3 months under the preceding paragraphs apply to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal through the Chief Registrar for a waiver of that waiting period, and the Court may grant the application where it considers that the urgency of the matter requires such a waiver.
18.4 The Economic Union Protocol may provide for exemption from or shortening of the waiting period of 3 months under Article 18.2.
18.5 The eligible parties for the purpose of Article 18.1 comprise the full Member States, the Associate Member States and the Organisation.
18.6 The provisions of this Article and the Dispute Settlement Annex do not apply to proceedings commenced before the coming into force of this Treaty. Such proceedings shall be governed solely by the provisions of the Treaty of Basseterre 1981, which shall continue to apply in full force until such proceedings are completed or discontinued by the complainant Member State under that Treaty.
18.7 The budget of the Organisation shall include provision for any resources necessary to support the discharge by the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal of its functions under this Treaty. To the extent that such provision is insufficient to meet the requirements of the discharge of those functions, the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal may require the parties to any dispute before it to advance payment against the Court's estimated costs of the proceedings and may in its orders and judgments in the case allocate to the parties, in such shares as it considers just, the liability for those costs.