THE DISMANTLING OF THE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
Info Bulletin Dismantling available
The country The Netherlands Antilles (‘het Land de Nederlandse Antillen’) will cease to exist, presumably in 2010. Like Aruba, although slightly different, Curacao and St. Maarten will receive the status of autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in accordance with referendums held on both islands. Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will each receive the status of Dutch municipality (a.k.a. Kingdom Island).
The Ministry of Constitutional and Interior Affairs has published a number of info bulletins on the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles:
THREE QUESTIONS ABOUT DUTCH CARIBBEAN PREJUDGMENT ATTACHMENT
FAQ
Question 1
How easily can one obtain permission to freeze assets?
The Netherlands Antilles Code of Civil Procedure provides the possibility to seize and freeze assets in anticipation of a court order to pay a certain amount or to return certain goods. This legal remedy is referred to as prejudgment attachment or seizure (conservatoir beslag).
In general, a petition for the attachment of assets is only marginally examined by the court and will therefore be granted in most cases. The claimant must then submit a writ of summons or claim form to the court, within a period determined by the court, …
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THREE QUESTIONS ON DUTCH CARRIBBEAN BANKRUPTCY LAWS
FAQ
Question 1
In which cases and by whom may bankruptcy proceedings be initiated in accordance with Netherlands Antilles bankruptcy law?
Filing for bankruptcy may be done either by the debtor itself or by one or more of its creditors. If the debtor is a company, the managing directors do not have the authority to petition for bankruptcy of the company without authorization thereto from the general meeting, unless otherwise stipulated in the articles of association.
The pre-requisites for making a bankruptcy order on application, regardless of whether the application is made by the debtor or by any of the …
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THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN AND OECD STANDARDS OF TRANSPARANCY AND EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION
OECD Secretary-General compliments the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba
In his speech on 21 October 2008, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, addressed the issue of transparency and exchange of tax information in relation to offshore jurisdictions. The Secretary-General:
“In 2000 we identified over 40 tax havens and between 2000 and 2005 we were able to convince 35 of these tax havens to commit to the OECD standards of transparency and exchange of information. Seven tax havens initially refused to make this political commitment and were placed on a list of uncooperative tax havens. By 2008 this list …
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DUTCH CARIBBEAN PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW
The legal effects doctrine: an exception to the lex loci delicti rule
Under Dutch Caribbean rules of private international law, a claim arising from an unlawful act is governed, in the absence of a choice of jurisdiction by the parties, by the law of the country were the unlawful act was committed (lex loci delicti). However, this rule may possibly not apply if the tortfeasor and the injured party are both residing in a country other than that where the unlawful act was committed and if the legal effects occur entirely in the other country. This is the so-called legal …
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DUTCH SAME-SEX COUPLES HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS AS OPPOSITE-MARRIED COUPLES IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Spigthoff represented plaintiff
According to a recent court ruling in the Netherlands Antilles (Court of First Instance, 17 July 2008), a same-sex couple that was married in the Netherlands and subsequently moved to the Netherlands Antilles (Curacao), has the same rights under Netherlands Antilles law (or Aruban law as the case may be) as Netherlands Antilles opposite-married couples as far as health insurance is concerned. Dr. Douwe Boersema of Spigthoff Attorneys & Tax Advisers on Curacao represented the couple.
Same-sex couples have been able to marry in the Netherlands for the last seven years. However, Aruba and the …
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EMERGENCY MEASURES FOR CREDIT INSTITUTIONS IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
The Central Bank has certain regulatory powers
Not all banks perform well. Sometimes things go wrong. In the Netherlands Antilles the Central Bank has certain powers to take over control, if necessary. The Central Bank may request the Court of First Instance to subject a bank (credit institution) to the emergency measure pursuant to Article 28 of the National Ordinance on the Supervision of Banking and Credit Institutions 1994.
The court may authorize the Central Bank to transfer all or part of the obligations of the credit institution and to partially or entirely liquidate the credit institution. The authorization shall …
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INVESTMENT COMPANY REGULATIONS IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Holding companies are not investing
An investment company (NV or BV) is a company that raises or obtains pecuniary means or other property to be used for collective investment with the objective of allowing the participants to benefit from the revenues of those investments.
The Netherlands Antilles National Ordinance on the Supervision of Investment Institutions and Administrators (‘Landsverordening Toezicht Beleggingsinstellingen en Administrateurs’) and the Central Bank’s policy guidelines based thereon do not make entirely clear what is regarded as an “investment”.
The explanatory memorandum to the Ordinance explains that certain activities do not tend to be considered as “investments”, such …
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TRUST COMPANIES IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Rendering trust services without a license is prohibited
Many international group structures include one or more Dutch Caribbean legal entities or partnerships. The main reasons for this are the internationally competitive conditions for business development in the area of corporate law, the tax system, and the well-developed professional financial services industry of the Netherlands Antilles. Trust companies are involved in setting up and maintaining such structures. On behalf of other enterprises, trust companies conduct the management of ‘international companies’, i.e. companies established in the Netherlands Antilles which, however, on many occasions are (factually) controlled by persons or legal entities from …
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AESX PLATFORMS ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF WEST AFRICA SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC INITIATIVE
The Alternative Electronic Stock eXchange has created a specialty exchange for sustainable (financial and social) investing, the MicroFinance Exchange MFDAQ.
The MicroFinance Exchange announced yesterday (20 May 2008) the availability for subscription of the first social enterprise to seek capital through the Exchange.
The West Africa Sustainable Economic Initiative (WASEI) is the brainchild of former Grameen Financial Officer Linda Yahr, supported by an impressive team whose mission is to create a “ladder of prosperity” to “bottom of …
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COMPLIANCE IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Curacao considers how the US deals with compliance
Compliance is essentially about systems and procedures at corporations, banks, funds, trust offices, insurance companies and the like, to ensure that their officers and employees are aware of and take steps to comply with the relevant laws and regulations. It is also referred to as ‘regulatory compliance’. Compliance is nowadays, in the aftermath of, Enron, for example, which collapsed in 2001, of the utmost importance. I will briefly discuss several compliance related issues below, however one should keep in mind that the concept of compliance is extremely broad.
The …
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ORDINARY VERSUS SUMMARY PROCEEDINGS IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
Interlocutory or summary proceedings provide for immediate relief
Article 110 of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Code of Civil Procedure (‘the Code’) provides that all adversarial proceedings shall be initiated by means of a petition to the court of first instance. Proceedings so initiated are ordinary proceedings a.k.a. proceedings on the merits.
A petitioner may opt for preliminary relief proceedings (a.k.a. interlocutory proceedings; ‘kort geding’). Article 226 of the Code provides that in urgent cases which require an immediate decision, the plaintiff may request a provisionally enforceable judgement (‘beslissing bij voorraad’).
Article 229 of the Code provides that a provisional …
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