FOI Bill · September 2026
Newspaper or publicly accessible website
The Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill changes the publication mechanism in sections 7, 8 and 9 from a mandatory daily-newspaper route to publication either in a daily newspaper or on a publicly accessible website. It does not remove the statutory right to make an information request. Parliament's tracker recorded its passage through the House.
Digital Inclusion Survey · 2021
Fixed broadband: 75 per cent urban, 71 per cent rural
The TATT/CSO survey reports a working fixed-broadband subscription in 74 per cent of households nationally: 75 per cent in urban locations and 71 per cent in rural locations. Eight of Trinidad's fourteen municipalities fell below the national ICT Development Index benchmark. Princes Town, Sangre Grande and Mayaro/Rio Claro recorded the three lowest municipal scores; Sangre Grande and Mayaro/Rio Claro were described as predominantly rural. In Tobago, St Patrick, St David and St John were the lowest-scoring parishes on the IDI measure.
Emergency powers · 2026
A distinct constitutional regime
A state of public emergency was proclaimed with effect from 3 March 2026 and later extended by Parliament. Emergency Powers Regulations operated under that constitutional framework. Emergency powers and the later Special Operations Bill are legally distinct and should not be presented as the same regime.
Preventive detention · June–August 2026
Arrest, orders, review and revocation
Dominic and Genevieve Hadeed were arrested on 24 June 2026. Preventive Detention Orders were dated 27 June. A review tribunal concluded that continued detention was no longer necessary or expedient in the public interest. The Minister revoked the orders on 23 July and they were released; revocation notices were published in the Gazette on 20 August. The sequence did not amount to a criminal conviction or establish the legality of any later legislation.
Special Operations Bill · September 2026
Closed areas and operational powers
The Bill authorises closed areas, permits, cordons and curfews, and allows warrantless searches and seizure in a closed area on stated statutory grounds. It passed the House on 19 September and the Senate after a 15–15 division and casting vote on 24 September.
Special Operations Bill · Clause 15
Express privilege, no comparable express source clause
Clause 15 prevents seizure of an item protected by legal privilege. The Bill text does not identify a comparable express protection for confidential journalistic material or source-identifying information. That does not mean no other legal protection may apply.
Procurement Bill · Clauses 4–10
Exemptions, remedies, thresholds and challenges
The Bill proposes exemptions including energy and national security; limits specified OPR remedies following a Part IV investigation; permits costs in challenge proceedings; establishes TT$2 million and TT$500,000 thresholds for specified officials; and shortens the standstill period from 10–15 to 5–10 working days. It passed the Senate 16–15 after a tied division and casting vote.
OPR statement · 16 April 2026
A regulator acting before award
The OPR said it directed the HDC to hold the award of TT$3.4 billion in housing contracts pending review, relying on powers under sections 14(1)(a), (c) and (d). The statement illustrates the kind of interim intervention at issue; it is not itself an allegation that wrongdoing was established.
Institutional response · September 2026
Transparency Institute asked Government to pause
The Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute's reported position was that wider exemptions, removal of prior OPR agreement for some exemptions, advisory-only recommendations, higher thresholds and a shorter challenge period could weaken independent oversight. These are attributed policy objections, not judicial findings that the Bill is unlawful.
Extracts are summarised from the document of record, which is linked above. Where a passage is disputed, this newsroom will publish the correction alongside the extract.