10 VII PRELIMINARY OBJECTION: FAILURE OF THE COMMISSION TO REFER THE CASE TO THE COURT AND OF THE COURT TO “ACCEPT JURISDICTION” WITHIN THE STIPULATED PERIOD AND LACK OF JURISDICTION 23) In its preliminary objection, Trinidad and Tobago sustained that the InterAmerican Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case in light of three main arguments: I) The Commission did not refer the case to the Court and the Court did not accept jurisdiction of the case within the three-month period stipulated under Article 51 of the American Convention on Human Rights. II) case. The State’s second reservation precludes any jurisdiction of the Court in this III) Alternatively, the State has never recognized the jurisdiction of the Court. 24) The Court will now consider the arguments presented by the State in the case sub judice. A. FAILURE OF THE COMMISSION TO REFER THE CASE TO THE COURT AND OF THE COURT TO “ACCEPT JURISDICTION” WITHIN THE STIPULATED PERIOD Arguments of the State 25) The State alleged that Article 51(1) of the Convention requires that, for the Court to have jurisdiction, not only must the Commission’s Report have been submitted to the Court within three months of the date of transmittal of the said Report to the State concerned, but that the Court must also have accepted jurisdiction in respect of the matter within the three month period. 26) that In this regard, the State noted that Article 51(1) of the Convention provides [i]f, within a period of three months from the date of the transmittal of the report of the Commission to the states concerned, the matter has not either been settled or submitted by the Commission or by the state concerned to the Court and its jurisdiction accepted, the Commission may, by the vote of an absolute majority of its members, set forth its opinion and conclusions concerning the question submitted for its consideration. (emphasis added) 27) Trinidad and Tobago maintained that the Confidential Report No. 53/00, issued pursuant to Article 50 of the Convention, was submitted to the State on July 5, 2000. Consequently, the three-month time period stipulated in Article 51(1) expired on October 4 of the same year, and the Court should therefore have accepted jurisdiction on the matter before that date. However, the Commission referred the case to the Court on October 5, 2000, and it “accepted jurisdiction” on October 19, the same year.