LITIGATION IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
If you need a troubleshooter in your corner
The civil court system in the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba) consists of three tiers; first instance cases are brought before the Court of First Instance. Appeal cases are brought before the Joint Court of Appeal. When all normal appeal procedures have been exhausted, cassation cases can be brought before the Court of Cassation or Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) in The Hague in the Netherlands.
All adversarial proceedings in the Dutch Caribbean shall be initiated by means of a petition to the Court of First Instance. …
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INDEPENDENT SUPERVISORY BOARD IN ST. MAARTEN
Should be mandatory for government-owned entities
Under the laws of St. Maarten, the main task of a board of supervisory directors is to supervise the board of managing directors of a limited liability company (NV or BV).
The St. Maarten Corporate Code provides for two different kinds of boards of supervisory directors, a “regular” board of supervisory directors and the so-called “independent” board of supervisory directors (Section 2:139 Civil Code). Within this context the word independent means that the supervisory directors are independent of the shareholders, interest groups (“belangengroepen”) and to a certain extent from the shareholders’ meeting.
An independent …
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BEARER SHARES IN A NETHERLANDS CARIBBEAN COMPANY
Registered shares must be issued first
On 1 March 2004, the new Netherlands Antilles act on corporate law (Book 2 Civil Code) became effective. Since that date it is no longer possible to (directly) issue bearer shares.
A company with only bearer shares has no shareholders’ register. Only a public limited liability company (NV) may issue bearer shares, provided that registered shares be issued first and that they have been fully paid up. These may subsequently be converted into bearer shares. The issuance (of registered shares) requires a ‘deed of issuance’, which must be signed by both the company and …
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