Adapted maritime border between St. Maarten, Saba

The mari­time border between St. Maarten and Saba will be defined more precisely with an amendment to the 2010 Kingdom Law, giving con­tent to the treaty that was signed between the Dutch Kingdom and the French Republic in Philipsburg on April 6, 2016.

The Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament is slated to approve the amendment to the King­dom Law as a formality this Thursday. At the time of the approval of the Kingdom Law in 2010 to mark the maritime bor­ders between Curacao and Bonaire and between St. Maarten and Saba, the ne­gotiations between France and the Kingdom to delin­eate the maritime borders between St. Maarten and Saba were still ongoing.

The treaty that was signed in Philipsburg in April 2016, which was ratified by King­dom Law on December 14, 2016, included an adapta­tion of the maritime border between St. Maarten and Saba. The amended 2010 Kingdom Law will now include the exact delinea­tion of the maritime border between St. Maarten and Saba indicated by specific degrees.

The proposal to amend the 2010 Kingdom Law was sent to St. Maarten and Saba for comment. No re­action was received from the St. Maarten Govern­ment. Saba’s Executive Council responded by let­ter in October 2017.

The Saba Government stated that it was happy to learn that the negotiations had resulted in a treaty be­tween France and the King­dom. Because the treaty and the amended Kingdom Law will have an influence on the waters surround­ing Saba, the Government did ask about the enforce­ment and supervision by the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard. According to Saba, this matter was currently not regulated sufficiently, which has an effect on se­curity.

The Daily Herald.