The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Sint Eustatius and Saba came officially into existence with the introduction of the law “Wet Kamers van Koophandel & Nijverheid BES” on October 1 2010. Prior to 2010 the Chamber of Commerce of Sint Maarten was also responsible for Statia and Saba. For many years this situation was seen as unsatisfactory and businesses felt that they were not properly represented by the Sint Maarten Chamber.
Also administrative matters such as registration or changes in the registry were rather cumbersome and costly. Entrepreneurs often had to make a trip to Sint Maarten if they wanted to arrange their business.
Chamber of Commerce
The change in the constitutional status, whereby Statia and Saba became public entities within The Netherlands offered the opportunity to establish our own Statia and Saba Chamber. In first instance however the ministry of economic affairs had to be convinced that the establishment of one Chamber for the three islands Bonaire, Statia and Saba would not be the best solution and would merely move the problem from Sint Maarten to Bonaire. Secondly the ministry had to be convinced that the choice of one Chamber for Statia and Saba required a physical presence on both islands. Nonetheless we managed and therefore the main office now resides on Statia with a branch office on Saba. Both are open to the public daily from 9 AM until 1 PM.
The first board of the Chamber was appointed by the governments of Statia and Saba. But since January 1st this year the Chamber consists of the chosen members Koos Sneek (Chairman), Ebbie Schmidt-Hinds, Carlyle Tearr for Statia and Wolfgang Tooten and Kelly Johnson for Saba.
Moreover the appointment of Petronila Lara Reyes as the executive secretary of the Chamber, the one who is responsible for the daily operations, has resulted in the improvement of service to the public.
The main responsibility of the Chamber is to hold the Commercial Registry. The registration and annual fees that businesses and other organizations have to pay for registration are the main source of income for the Chamber of Commerce. But regarding the small size of the Chamber the amount collected is not sufficient to carry out all activities it really would like to offer. So in order to provide for extra business support services, the Chamber receives incidental subsidies from the ministry of economic affairs. These resources allow the Chamber among other to offer workshops and organize activities to support the business sector and take part in trade missions and trade shows. Although positive steps have been made and service to the business sector has improved a more structural financing system is required. For this purpose, the laws and financial means applicable to the Chamber of Commerce on the three islands is presently being reviewed. It is anticipated that the results of this review will be implemented somewhere in 2017 and will mean a Chamber that will be better equipped to service all registered businesses and organizations.
Questions or information
For any questions or information regarding the work of the Chamber, the registration in the commercial registry or information on how to set up your business one can contact the Chamber by phone at 00599-318-3232 (Statia) and 00599-416-2554 (Saba) or email cocstatia@gmail.com