THE HAGUE--St. Maarten will get assistance with the practical aspects of the implementation of the Kingdom Sanction Law once it goes into effect later this year.

 

Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders announced this during the handling of the law proposal in question by the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Wednesday. The law proposal is expected to receive approval next Tuesday, after which it will go to the First Chamber.

 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is consulting with the St. Maarten Ministry of Finance, through the Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary of St. Maarten in The Hague, about the providing of support to the local Customs Department in relation to the control on import and export. These talks are currently ongoing and moving in a positive direction. St. Maarten lacks the manpower to effectively implement the complex and multi-faceted Sanction Law.

 

The Netherlands is most willing to provide this technical assistance not only because it has the know-how, but also because it concerns small islands which will be getting an “enormous” additional responsibility, said Koenders. “We will gladly share our best practices,” he added.

 

The Minister said assistance would be available to Aruba and Curaçao as well, if they were to request such. The Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is already providing assistance with the legal implementation.

 

Koenders admitted that the Sanction Law and the implementation of all current European Union sanctions will involve an additional workload for the Dutch Caribbean countries. He explained that it concerned 30 different sanction regimes. “I understand that this cannot take place all at once.”

 

That is why it has been agreed with the countries that they will give priority to the sanction regime against Iran, Libya, North-Korea, Ukraine, Russia, Syria, South-Sudan, terrorism in general and the Al Qaida.

 

The implementation of sanctions will remain an autonomous responsibility of the individual Dutch Caribbean countries. The same goes for the implementation of sanctions of the United Nations (UN). The sanctions of both the UN and the EU mostly concern listings, the freezing of assets, visa restrictions and trade embargos.

 

A protocol is being worked on with the countries based on consensus. The regional, economic and political interests of the individual countries will be weighed in an early stadium in the process of arriving at a Dutch position regarding decision-taking on an EU level. Koenders said he took this aspect seriously, because the sanctions could have large implications for the countries, for example in the case of a possible sanction against Venezuela.

 

The countries will be informed of the agenda in Brussels, particularly where it comes to the possibility of implementing sanctions against certain regimes. This enables the countries to state their possible geopolitical and economic interests. The Netherlands will also inform the countries on the proclamation of sanctions and possible changes to their implementation, assured Koenders. The countries will take part in a three-monthly sanction consultation.

 

The Kingdom Sanction Law allows for differentiation in the implementation in the individual countries. Certain parts of the law can be introduced in different time-frames for Aruba and St. Maarten, which have already adopted their national legislation. This will not count for Curaçao, which has not adapted its national legislation concerning EU sanctions.

 

The Daily Herald