GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (II)
Government (not) at a distance?
Being a director of a government-owned company is certainly not always as easy. Neither is being a shareholder in a government-owned company. The directors will usually complain about too much influence from politicians, while the politicians will usually find that they have too little grip on government-owned companies. In this connection, there are two important topics we will have to consider briefly.
I will ignore cultural aspects here. In that respect see e.g. chapter 8 of the dissertation of A. van Marrewijk, Internationalisation, cooperation and ethnicity in the telecom sector, Delft: Uitgeverij Eburon 1999, 340 …
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GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (I)
For Hobbes, it is certain that there must be a sovereign
According to Thomas Hobbes we all have natural passions that carry us to, among other things, partiality, pride, and revenge. The laws of nature, as Hobbes sees them, including ‘justice’, ‘equity’, ‘modesty’, and ‘mercy’, are contrary to our passions. Therefore, we will only observe the laws of nature if we have fear of some power to cause them to be observed. According to him, covenants, without the sword, are but words that lack every strength to protect a person.
See Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Amsterdam: Boom 2007, p. 207 and …
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CURACAO COURT INTERVENES IN POLITICAL APPOINTMENT
Political appointments unacceptable
The Court of First Instance of Curacao passed judgment on 23 January 2012 in the case of Selikor N.V. versus Drs. Ivar Asjes (JOR 2012, 105). This case is a follow-up to the judgment of the Joint Court of Appeal of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba of 10 August 2010, JOR 2010, 296. In a nutshell the case boils down to Asjes being appointed as the managing director of waste processor Selikor N.V., but that this is an appointment pushed through politically without an open job application procedure. This deprived at least six of Selikor’s members of …
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DUTCH CARIBBEAN LEGAL PORTAL
Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba
There is a large legal community in the Dutch Caribbean. Until 2007 there was no website with news and general information about the legal system of the Dutch Caribbean, its institutions and its practitioners. Dutch Caribbean Legal Portal aims to fill this void and strives to be the complete database of Legal News, Contacts and Documents for the Dutch Caribbean.
The DC Legal Portal has a wide variety of members and contacts within the legal and financial areas of the Dutch Caribbean. It has a database of more …
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TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT AND REDUNDANCY
Termination by mutual consent is preferable
In general, Curacao labor law provides for the following ways to terminate an employment agreement: (i) termination by giving notice, (ii) dissolution by the Courts and (iii) termination by mutual consent.
Prior to giving notice, an employer must obtain a permit from the Director of the Directorate of Labor Affairs. The Director will determine whether there is a valid reason for the dismissal. In the case of redundancy the employer is obliged to provide a detailed financial justification thereof. If in agreement, the Director of the Directorate of Labor Affairs may issue a permit …
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PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ON CURACAO
Public transportation in the tourism industry
Curacao is an increasingly popular tourist destination. As in many other tourist destinations, travel agencies and hotels offer various transportation services for tourists. Also, supermarkets, restaurants, car rental agencies or hotels, have started to offer (complimentary) transportation services for tourists.
According to the Island Decree on public transportation, it is required to have a permit for the public transportation of people or groups. The law prescribes that (arranging for) unauthorized public transportation is punishable by a penalty of Naf 2.500 or a 30-day imprisonment. The background of these regulations is basically to protect the …
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SEE YOU IN COURT?
Arbitration as an alternative for settling disputes in Curacao
Parties with a legal dispute can turn to the public court system to settle the dispute; however, instead of bringing a lawsuit in a public court, they can also opt for arbitration. Arbitration is a form of private dispute settlement in which the parties instruct one or more persons (arbitrators) to render a binding decision on their dispute. The arbitrators may be jurists, but they can also be laypersons. People with specific expertise or experience in a certain branch or industry are often chosen as arbitrator.
Parties …
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