Guide to Doing Business
in Curaçao

Legal system

Curaçao 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. However, considering the European legislation being implemented in the laws of the Netherlands, the differences between the laws may become greater.

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

In January 2012, thirteen National ordinances have taken effect for Curaçao. Herewith a second stage in the project to introduce a new Civil Code in Curaçao has been completed. The first stage of this project has already been completed in 2001. Currently, a draft revision of the Curacao Civil Code is pending, relating but not limited to the abolition of bearer shares, extension of due dates, simplification of exit procedure and inquiry into company affairs.

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.