THE DISMANTLING OF THE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
The Country known as the Netherlands Antilles will disappear as of 10-10-10
The country, the Netherlands Antilles, consists of Bonaire, Curacao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba, and forms part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. On 10 October 2010 the Netherlands Antilles will no longer exist. Two new countries will be born on that date: the country Curacao and the country St. Maarten. Both new countries will be part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; however, they will each have their own government and legislature. The island of Aruba gained similar autonomy in 1986.
The legislation currently in place …
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CARIBBEAN KIDS NEWS
CKN is seeking financial support
Caribbean Kids News (CKN) is a unique program for Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba, thus for six very special but quite different islands.
For the first time a news program informs young people between 9 and 14 years and gives them a voice in the Caribbean region. The Caribbean Kids News broadcasts since September 2009 in English and Papiamento (with subtitles in Dutch or English).
The Foundation Youth into Media, a nonprofit organization responsible for the sustainable development of this youth news program, is looking for businesses, organizations and private persons willing …
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THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN INCORPORATION DOCTRINE
The courts apply the law of the state where the legal entity was incorporated
The Netherlands Antilles adheres to the Incorporation Doctrine (Netherlands Antilles State Ordinance of 9 September 1960, which entered into force on the 10th of September 1960, P.B. 1960, 166). According to this doctrine, the internal affairs of a corporation are governed solely by the laws of the state in which it was formally incorporated. This doctrine was confirmed in the cases of Natco Trust v. mr Thesseling q.q., Hoge Raad (Dutch Supreme Court) 20 April 1990, NJ 1991, 560; TAR-Justicia 1 (1991), p. 24-35, and IBC …
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SCANNED EVIDENCE UNDER THE LAWS OF THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Electronic files will not be disregarded as evidence
A Netherlands Antilles or Aruban court may only base its decision on facts. An alleged fact that is not disputed by the parties is considered to be such a fact, even if it does not correspond with reality. For example, if both parties state that they were involved in a fight in Curacao, the court will assume the correctness thereof, although both parties know that the fight was actually in Bonaire. Furthermore, facts can be proven in the course of the proceedings, e.g., by showing the court an official extract of a …
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DIRECTORS’ LIABILITY IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Personal and several liability
The members of the Board of Directors are personally and severally liable towards the NV (or BV, as the case may be) for any loss caused by the improper performance of duties. Each member of the Board who proves that he cannot be blamed for such improper performance and that the activities concerned fall outside the scope of activities addressed to him, and that he has not been negligent in taking steps to avert the related consequences, is not liable (Article 2:14 Section 4 Netherlands Antilles Civil Code; NACC). Therefore, a division of tasks among such …
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CARIBBEAN KIDS NEWS WINS KNN AWARD 2010
Item about fire trucks (click here)
The kids news in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba has won the ‘KNN Award’ during the annual summit of the eight Kids News Network programmes. The award is a yearly professional prize for the best report of the network (see FreeVoice news item).
Sulin Passial, chief editor of the Caribbean Kids News has proudly received the price in the form of a South African art piece, on behalf of her team (picture …
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SUPERVISION OF TRUST COMPANIES IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Trust companies render management services
The supervision of trust companies is dealt with in the National Ordinance on the Supervision of Trust Service Providers 2003 (‘Landsverordening toezicht trustwezen’, the ‘NOST’). Supervision of trust companies (a.k.a. fiduciary or company service providers) falls in the category integrity supervision and not in the category prudential supervision. The supervisor is the Central Bank of the Netherlands Antilles. The ordinance prohibits anyone from rendering fiduciary or trust services without a license.
According to Art. 10 of the NOST, trust services means: (a) establishing an international company or causing it to be established when such is …
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LAW FIRM MARKETING AND THE INTERNET
Blog posts reinforce your expertise and reputation
I found this article on CNN’s website: ‘How can small companies make money from social media?’, and it made me start thinking about whether social media is a business for law firms.
I joined LinkedIn and SunZu (f.k.a. Ecademy) back in 2004. I was among the 1st million members of LinkedIn: member number 952,524 in fact!
I now have profiles on Xing, Facebook, Eleqt (f.k.a. Elysiants), Legal360.nl, Martindale-Hubbell Connected and several other sites too. Joining …
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THE THREE STAGES OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
General observations regarding adversarial proceedings
All adversarial proceedings in the Dutch Caribbean shall be initiated by means of a petition to the Court of First Instance of the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba. Claims will be denied or rejected (afgewezen) by the Court if ruled that they are unfounded. If a claim is denied for reasons other than the merits of the claim then the claimant’s complaint will be declared non-admissible (niet-ontvankelijk). In exceptional cases the petition will be declared void and in some cases the court may rule that it is not competent to hear the case.
An appeal can …
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ORDINARY ADVERSARIAL VERSUS SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
The court only considers the key issues
According to Article 110 and 111 of the Netherlands Antilles Code of Civil Proceedings (NACCP), all adversarial proceedings shall be initiated by means of a petition to the Court of First Instance. Proceedings so initiated are ordinary proceedings, unless the petitioner expressly opts for preliminary relief proceedings (kort geding) under article 226 NACCP. This article provides that in urgent cases which require an immediate decision the plaintiff may request a provisional decision (beslissing bij voorraad).
Article 229 NACCP provides that a provisional decision rendered as a result of this special type of proceeding …
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OBITER DICTUM OR NOT?
Litigating twice on the same matter is not allowed
The Netherlands Antilles Code of Civil Procedure prevents parties from litigating twice on the same legal issue. The principle that a final judgment of a competent court is conclusive upon the parties in any subsequent litigation involving the same cause of action is known as ‘res judicata’. A Dutch court case is described below illustrating this principle: Utrecht District Court of 19 March 2009 (NJF 2009/291).
In initial litigation, the claimant had sought payment of certain contractual penalties. The Court of Appeals rejected the claim on two separate grounds, the first …
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DUTCH CARIBBEAN LITIGATION AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FACTS
Failing to contest may make a fact true
Facts play an important role in civil litigation. Facts are established by the Court in First Instance of the Netherlands Antilles or Aruba and by the Joint Court of Appeal of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, not by the Supreme Court. A review by the Supreme Court is not a full review, but is limited to verifying that the Court whose judgment is under review has not breached Netherlands Antilles laws (or Aruban laws as the case may be) and that there have been no defects in the proceedings resulting in the …
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