WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao has begun work on a new General National Ordinance on Administrative Law aimed at establishing clearer rules on the responsibilities and powers of government agencies, while strengthening the tools available to enforce regulations without immediately relying on the police or criminal law.
Interdepartmental consultations on the proposed legislation have now started. The new law is intended to create a comprehensive and coherent administrative-law framework covering the powers of administrative authorities, objections and appeals, legal protection for citizens and administrative enforcement.
The initiative addresses a longstanding weakness in Curaçao’s government structure that, according to the Law Enforcement Council, dates back to the constitutional reforms of October 10, 2010.
Following the dissolution of the former Netherlands Antilles, responsibilities for enforcement and public order were distributed among different ministries. At the same time, the former position and administrative structure surrounding the Lieutenant Governor, or Gezaghebber, disappeared.
According to the Council, this also meant the loss of a more integrated framework for authority and enforcement. Responsibilities previously handled within that system were divided among different parts of government, but sufficient enforcement capacity and legal instruments were not always established within the agencies that inherited those responsibilities.
As a result, it is sometimes unclear which government body is responsible for intervening when problems arise.
One consequence has been increased reliance on the Curaçao Police Force (KPC).
The Council says police officers are increasingly called upon to deal with situations that should ideally have been addressed earlier by other government agencies through administrative or social intervention.
Examples include escalating disputes between landlords and tenants, neighborhood conflicts, addiction-related problems, labor disputes, mental health cases and environmental pollution.
In some instances, the responsible ministries or government services lack sufficient personnel, authority or enforcement instruments to intervene effectively before a situation escalates.
This can ultimately leave the police dealing with problems that are not primarily criminal in nature.
The Council considers this fragmentation problematic both for legal certainty and for effective government enforcement. Citizens should be able to determine which authority is responsible for a particular issue, while government agencies need clearly defined powers to intervene.
Efforts to address the problem have been underway for years.
According to the Council, work has long been taking place on a separate National Ordinance on Administrative Enforcement. Government agencies are currently identifying which legal instruments and enforcement powers are still missing.
The proposed General National Ordinance on Administrative Law would go considerably further.
Rather than focusing exclusively on enforcement, it is intended to establish a general legal framework governing the relationship between citizens and the government. This includes how administrative bodies make decisions, what powers they may exercise, how citizens can challenge government decisions and what administrative measures authorities can use when laws and regulations are violated.
Such a framework could also reduce unnecessary reliance on criminal enforcement by giving government agencies more effective administrative options to address violations themselves.
The legislation is still at an early stage. With interdepartmental consultation now underway, ministries will first discuss and further develop the proposal internally.
No date has yet been announced for when the draft General National Ordinance on Administrative Law will be submitted to the Curaçao Parliament for consideration.