PHILIPSBURG–People objecting or appealing decisions of government or its administrative organs will soon have a more effective and less time-consuming way to file their grievances, thanks to the unanimously-approved amendments to the Administrative Procedure Ordinance.
The changes to the law have been pending since the late 2000s and were on the desk of the then-Netherlands Antilles Parliament. With the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles as of October 10, 2010, the local government took over the law and it has taken that long for the amendments to become reality.
Justice Minister Cornelius de Weever told Parliament on Monday morning that the amendments were “technical changes” that allow residents to file an appeal directly with the Court of First Instance or the higher courts, depending on the status of the objection.
The amendments to the law were approved without debate.
Monday’s sitting came after discussions in the Central Committee of Parliament in June 2018, just under a year ago. No Member of Parliament (MP) signed in to speak on the topic and the changes were unanimously passed without any request for individual voting.
This law change is one of the last pending from the stack passed to the St. Maarten government by the Netherlands Antilles Parliament. Ten MPs were signed in for the sitting chaired by Parliament Chairwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams in Parliament House.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/87281-new-law-offers-a-short-way-for-administrative-appeals
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