The Benelux Union, also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portmanteau formed from joining the first few letters of each country's name and was first used to name the customs agreement that initiated the union. It is now used more generally to refer to the geographic, economic, and cultural grouping of the three countries.
The Netherlands Antilles was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country consisted of several island territories located in the Caribbean Sea. The islands were also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies. The Antilles were dissolved in 2010. The Dutch colony of Surinam, although it was relatively close by on the continent of South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954. All the island territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean, regardless of their legal status. People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans in the Netherlands.
Same-sex marriages are not performed in Aruba, Curaçao, or Sint Maarten, which are constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The islands were obliged after several court rulings to register any marriage registered in the Kingdom, but this primarily considers residency rights and they do not have to give same-sex marriages the same legal effect as opposite-sex marriages. Marriage in the European territory of the Netherlands, as well as in the Caribbean municipalities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, is open to any two people irrespective of sex.
Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of 41.44 km2 (16.00 sq mi), it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the northern 56% of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of Saint Martin. Sint Maarten's capital is Philipsburg. Collectively, Sint Maarten and the other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean.
The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands is a legal instrument that sets out the political relationship between the four countries that constitute the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten in the Caribbean and the Netherlands in Europe. It is the leading legal document of the Kingdom. The Constitution of the Netherlands and the Basic Laws of the three other countries are legally subordinate to the Charter.
Trust law is not part of most civil law jurisdictions, but is a common figure in most common law system. Trust law enters civilian jurisdictions through conflict of law arrangements recognizing it as a matter of private international law and has been implemented in the civil code of certain countries such as Liechtenstein and Curaçao.
The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was dissolved on 10 October 2010.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, commonly known as simply the Netherlands, is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with 98% of its territory and population in Western Europe and with several small West Indian island territories in the Caribbean.
The Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard (DCCG) is the coast guard of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Dutch Caribbean. The unit is a joint effort between all constituent countries within the Kingdom. Prior to the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, it was known as the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Coast Guard and was a division of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Netherlands.
The Caribbean Netherlands are the three public bodies of the Netherlands that are located in the Caribbean Sea. They consist of the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, although the term "Caribbean Netherlands" is sometimes used to refer to all of the islands in the Dutch Caribbean. In legislation, the three islands are also known as Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba or the BES islands. The islands are currently classified as public bodies in the Netherlands and as overseas countries and territories of the European Union; thus, EU law does not automatically apply.
The Benelux Court of Justice is a court which is common to the Benelux countries Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. The organisation was established by the treaty of 31 March 1965. The court's budget rests with the Benelux Union and is of 9 judges of the supreme courts as well as 6 judges of the courts of appeal of the three countries. The court is mainly tasked with answering requests for preliminary rulings from the supreme courts regarding regulations which are common to the three countries and serves as a civil service tribunal for personnel of the Benelux Economic Union and the Benelux Organization for Intellectual Property (BOIP), although it may also be tasked with advising the three governments, and with direct judicial tasks following the entry into force in 2016 of a 2012 protocol to the treaty.
A common visa exists since the end of 2010 for the territories of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlands which form together the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. The visa is not valid for the European part of the Netherlands, which is part of the Schengen Area.
The Caribbean guilder is a proposed new currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Caribbean islands which became "landen" within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010. The Caribbean guilder would replace the Antillean guilder at par and be pegged to the U.S. dollar. In November 2020, it was announced that the Caribbean guilder would come into circulation the following year, but it was delayed several times.
The coat of arms of Sint Eustatius consists of a shield and the motto. It was established on 9 November 2004 by the Island council of Sint Eustatius, when it was still part of the Netherlands Antilles. It remained the coat of arms of Sint Eustatius after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles and the subsequent change of Sint Eustatius's constitutional status into a special municipality of the Netherlands in 2010.
.sx is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet for Sint Maarten.
The Dutch Caribbean are the territories, colonies, and countries, former and current, of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean Sea. They are in the north and south-west of the Lesser Antilles archipelago.
Patent law in the Netherlands, or simply Dutch patent law, is mainly governed by the Kingdom Patents Act and the European Patent Convention. A patent covering the Netherlands can be obtained through three different routes: through the direct filing of a national patent application with the Netherlands Patent Office, through the filing of a European patent application, or through the filing of an international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty followed by the entry into European phase of said international application. The Dutch patent has a term of 20 years and has effect in the Netherlands, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. Aruba has its own patent system.
Same-sex marriage in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba has been legal since 10 October 2012, the effective date of legislation passed by the States General of the Netherlands enabling same-sex couples to marry.
Island council elections were held in the Netherlands Antilles on 7 May and 21 May 1999 to elect the members of the island councils of its five island territories. The election was won by the Party for the Restructured Antilles in Curaçao, the Windward Islands People's Movement in Saba, the Sint Eustatius Alliance in Sint Eustatius, and the Democratic Party in Sint Maarten.
