PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The Digital Leadership Team (DLT) continues to make significant progress under the Digital Government Transformation Project (DGTP) through sustained stakeholder engagements surrounding the development of Sint Maarten’s cyber-security, personal data protection, and open data legislative framework. It also focuses on the cyber-security risk management assessment. This comes with the objective to also outline key provisions and facilitate strategic discussions at the executive and senior management levels.
The proposed cyber-security legislation aims to ensure that the cybersecurity of public services is well managed, more resilient against cyber-attacks, and capable of providing greater transparency in the event of such incidents.
The Personal Data Protection legislation is designed to ensure that the collection and processing of personal data are properly governed. The legislation will provide clearer guidance on when personal data may be collected, the purposes for which it may be used, the steps required to protect such data, and the circumstances under which personal data may or may not be shared.
Moreover, the Open Data legislation seeks to ensure that public entities, including the Government of Sint Maarten, make specific non-personal datasets, accessible to the public in a transparent and responsible manner. This has been identified as strategic measures to guide and enable Sint Maarten’s digital transformation in a consistent and efficient manner.
The drafting of these legislative frameworks, which began in 2025, advanced further during the first quarter of 2026, through a series of cyber-security review sessions on the draft legislation conducted in collaboration with ICT Legal Consulting (ICTLC). Founded in 2011, the firm specializes in areas including data law, artificial intelligence, information and communication technology, privacy, personal data protection, cyber-security, and intellectual property. ICTLC will also have certification for stakeholders as based on international standards.
These local sessions, hosted at the Government Administration Building in Philipsburg, included detailed line-by-line reviews of the legislative drafts with representatives from various ministries and national authorities. Particular attention was given to provisions addressing interoperability and data exchange to ensure that legislative efforts remain fully aligned with the National Interoperability Framework.
The stakeholder engagement sessions merged ministries of the Government of Sint Maarten, supported departments, and key stakeholders. Participants included departments, Secretary-Generals, Kadaster, Chamber of Commerce, BTP and other critical public sector partners.
During the sessions, the Digital Leadership Team presented legislative updates, facilitated in-depth dialogue, and gathered valuable stakeholder feedback for further consideration. Additional technical and legal insights were provided by the project’s legal services vendor in support of the legislative drafting process.
The strong turnout reflected broad institutional commitment to strengthening Sint Maarten’s digital resilience and legal preparedness. Stakeholders expressed appreciation for the opportunity to better understand the cyber-security, personal data protection, and open data legislative development process, while also providing constructive feedback recognizing the extensive work led by the Digital Leadership Team to advance this national priority.
Through continued collaboration and transparent consultation, the Digital Leadership Team remains committed to delivering a modern, secure, and interoperable digital government framework that safeguards Sint Maarten while enabling efficient public service delivery.
About the Digital Government Transformation Project (DGTP)
The Digital Government Transformation Project supports the Government of Sint Maarten in modernizing digital public services, cybersecurity, data governance, and interoperability, strengthening institutional capacity and national resilience in the digital era.
The project is implemented by the National Recovery Program Bureau (NRPB) on behalf of the Government of Sint Maarten. It is funded through a $12 million grant from the Sint Maarten Trust Fund, financed by the Government of the Netherlands, and managed by the World Bank.
https://www.sintmaartengov.org/news/Pages/Digital-Leadership-Team-Advances-Stakeholder-Engagement-on-Cyber-security-Personal-Data-Protection-and-Open-Data-Legislati.aspx
