Challenges for the notary profession in the Caribbean Netherlands

To gain a better understanding of the challenges facing the notarial profession in the Caribbean Netherlands, the Royal Netherlands Bar Association (KNB) visited Bonaire last week at the invitation of the Ministry of Justice and Security. The KNB aims to use the resulting findings and recommendations to foster better cooperation between the Caribbean and European parts of the Netherlands in the notarial field.

The KNB delegation's visit, led by chair Annerie Ploumen, began with a conversation with civil-law notary Kenneth Arends. His biggest challenge is gaining access to the necessary information systems. He still conducts part of his research manually. Access to insurance policies is also a problem. These are issues that the other civil-law notary on Bonaire, Robin Rispens, is also experiencing. He indicated that, for example, a request from the population registry can take up to six months.

Candidate notaries and observers
Both civil-law notaries are also struggling to find candidate civil-law notaries and deputy civil-law notaries. This is partly because, before working on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba (the so-called BES islands), a deputy civil-law notary or notary must have worked on the BES islands for three years. On the other hand, returning to the Netherlands after a stay of more than a year on the BES islands is also difficult, as the 21-hour work requirement prevents them from immediately returning to their previous level of work. Rispens is now addressing this by collaborating digitally with candidate civil-law notaries who prepare cases for him from the Netherlands.

Digitalization
The KNB delegation also spoke with the Land Registry and the Chamber of Commerce. They understand the frustration that not all information is available online, but that digitization is a high-priority issue for both parties. During a meeting with two major real estate companies, it emerged that some transactions take a very long time. They concluded from this that the workload at notaries must be very high.

Card indexes
The KNB staff's final meeting was with the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands, the central government's delegation to the BES islands, and the Public Entity Bonaire, a combined provincial/municipal government on Bonaire. Among other things, ancestry research is conducted there. This is a labor-intensive process: staff members have to sift through card indexes.