The focus of digitisation in the com­ing period in the Carib­bean part of the Kingdom is on getting the necessary foundation in order. This means the introduction of the Citizen Service Number BSN in Bonaire, St. Eusta­tius and Saba, and giving Dutch Caribbean students a BSN prior to coming to the Netherlands to further their studies.

Digitisation in the Carib­bean part of the Kingdom is one of the five priorities of the Dutch government policy in the area of digi­tisation, explained Dutch caretaker State Secretary for Kingdom Relations and Digitisation Alexandra van Huffelen in a letter to the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament last Friday.

In consultation with the public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, the state secretary has been preparing the necessary law changes, which were brought into consultation on June 19. The findings of several investigations carried out into the variet­ies for the identity infra­structure in the Caribbean Netherlands were used for a legislation proposal.

The law proposal regulates four matters: a BSN for Ca­ribbean Netherlands resi­dents and access to digital login facilities such as Dig­iD; businesses in the Carib­bean Netherlands having access to digital login facili­ties such as e-recognition, allowing organisations like the Caribbean Netherlands Tax Office, as well as local, island departments and Dutch government depart­ments to use the BSN in providing services; and including the BSN in the Caribbean Netherlands ID card (sédula).

The law proposal to intro­duce the BSN encompasses changes to five laws: the Basic Registration of Per­sons Law, the Caribbean Netherlands Basic Admin­istration of Personal Data Law, the General Condi­tions BSN Law, the Digital Government Law and the Caribbean Netherlands Identity Cards Law.

Aside from legislation, it is necessary to set up a num­ber of technical and organ­isational facilities, which need to take into account the limited capacity at the Census Offices of the pub­lic entities and the depen­dence on a single software supplier.

The state secretary re­confirmed her intention to introduce the BSN in the Caribbean Netherlands and secure a DigiD for resi­dents in 2025. She said that the importance of having a BSN for proper (digital) government services was a recurring topic in her con­versations with the islands. “It is part of the foundation of the digital government. That foundation needs to be in order for the entire Netherlands,” Van Huffel­en stated.

The Daily Herald.