Personal Data Protection Act for the BES islands

Because of the political changes within the Kingdom, Article 10 of the Constitution (right to respect for one’s privacy) will also come into effect on the BES islands.
At the moment, there is no general regulation governing the protection of personal data in the Netherlands Antilles as yet. The introduction of Article 10 of the Constitution has led to the legislative bill personal data protection Act BES (Act Wbp BES). This legislative bill largely follows the Netherlands Personal Data Protection Act (Wbp).

The legislative bill Wbp BES has been adopted by the House of Representatives on 9 March 2010. The Senate subsequently adopted the bill on 11 May 2010 without a vote.

Once the Act has been introduced – one endeavors to do so on 10 October 2010 – all present data processing in the BES islands has to comply with the Act with regard to “ordinary” personal data, such as name, address, and place of residence of the person in question, within one year. Within three years after the Act has come into effect, also the data processing with regard to “special” personal data – inter alia data regarding race, personal beliefs, and political opinion of the person in question – has to comply with the personal data protection Act BES.

19 May 2010

For more information on this subject please contact Eva Pennings.