Guide to Doing Business
in Aruba

Legal system

Aruba has a civil law system. The main body of civil law is the Civil Code. Nearly all laws and regulations are, to a large extent, based on their equivalent in the Netherlands.

Aruba has a Court of First Instance established in Aruba and a Common Court of Appeal of Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba established in Curacao. The Supreme Court for Aruba is Supreme Court in The Hague (Hoge Raad), the Netherlands, which is also the Supreme Court for Curacao, St. Maarten, the BES islands and the Netherlands itself.

As is the case in the Netherlands, the principles of “reasonableness and fairness” (redelijkheid en billijkheid) are an important factor in the civil relations between parties. Contracts can be enforced either when they are merely oral or when put in writing. The Civil Code offers important protection to relatively vulnerable parties in contractual relations, such as employees in labor law and consumers when buying goods or acquiring services from professional providers.