BES official will obtain tailor-made pension system

November 26, 2009 4:14 AM

In the light of the new political status of the island Bonaire, Saba and Statia (BES islands), the House of Representatives in The Netherlands will consider a new tailor-made pension system by the name of “Stichting BES pensioenfonds”.

In the new system, which will become effective as per October 10, 2010 at the same time as the new political status, the terms of employment and legal status package of the Netherlands Antilles officials as contained in Antilles regulations will be adopted. But with the new status, the Netherlands Central and Local Government Personnel Act or the legal status regulations will not automatically also become applicable to government personnel of the BES islands.

In a letter, the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Guusje ter Horst, states that “a new sector, the sector BES, will be developed for these islands befitting the Netherlands’ sector model”. “This sector, as each of the Netherlands government sectors, has its own specific characteristics and legal status system,” according to Ter Horst.

At the moment, the BES pensions have been placed under the government foundation “Algemeen Pensioenfonds Nederlandse Antillen” (APNA). This will not be applicable anymore with the new political status and in the new pension system, because, as Ter Horst explains, “the Cabinet believes that each new country should fully be able to bear the responsibility for the pensions for officials itself.”

Ter Horst outlines a new BES pension fund “that will be organized as much as possible in accordance with the Netherlands model that can be compared to the “Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP”.” This means the organization of a private foundation managed by social partners, because this is the customary form that which pensions are placed under in The Netherlands.

Because aforementioned legislation still has to be created, the content hereof has not entirely been established as yet at the moment.

However, it is already clear that the Cabinet takes into account the existing terms of employment of BES officials when evaluating differences in terms of employment between government personnel of the BES and the Netherlands. This means that one also considers the competitive capacity of the BES government employer on the Caribbean job market and the relations towards Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten.

(Source: National newspaper Antilliaans Dagblad)

25 November, 2009

Frank Kunneman and Reagan Celestijn of VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne assist the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in this matter.