Philipsburg:--- The Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams confirmed on Wednesday that she gave instructions to her General Secretary to arrange a meeting with the French and Dutch side technocrats to deal with the expired Dutch drivers licenses that caused a road block in Marigot early Tuesday morning.
Wescot Williams told SMN News in an invited comment that the President of the Collectivity Alain Richardson contacted her on Tuesday regarding the matter because there are hundreds of people that are being affected by the decision of the Dutch Government not to renew the licenses if the holders are not registered residents on the Dutch side of the island.
Wescot Williams said that the Dutch side had an agreement with the French side to renew the licenses for a period of one year which expired at the end of June 2012. However, for one reason or another, the French side were not able to live up to what they had agreed to do. "Right now, I have made arrangements for the technocrats to meet again to find a solution in the interim because St. Maarten is busy working on its draft law for people living on the island to obtain a drivers license. In that draft law, the condition that is now in place where people must be registered at the Census Office will be removed." The Prime Minister did not give full details on the draft law that will be taken to Parliament regarding driver's licenses. She also did not say if Government intended to remove provisions of the current legislations for all citizens on the island or if it will be only for those residing on the French and Dutch side of the island.
In the year 2000, the traffic ordinance was amended by the island council stating that persons who are not registered at the Census Office could not obtain a drivers license, even though there was an existing policy that states that persons residing on the French side of the island could have obtained a drivers license from the Dutch side if they produced a "certificate of residency". It should be noted that while many persons including fire-fighters were affected, none of these persons challenged the Dutch Government in the court of law since the traffic ordinance should not have overridden an existing policy for persons who were already issued a license from the Dutch side of the island.
